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LETTER 

7 



ON THE 

GENIUS AND DISPOSITIONS 

OF THE 

FRENCH GOVERNMENT, 

INCLUDING 

A VIEW OF THE TAXATION OF THE FRENCH 
EMPIRE. 



BY AN AMERICAN 

Recently returned from Europe. 



" Heureux, toutes les fois que je m6dite sur les gouvernemens, de 
" trouver toujours dans mes recherches, de nouvelles raisons d'aimer 
'• celui de mon pays." RousSeau, Contract Social. 



EIGHTH EDITION. 



PHILADELPHIA PRINTED. 

LONDON REPRINTED FOR LONGMAN, HURST, 
REES, AND ORME, PATERNOSTER-ROW. 

1810. 



3* ft 2-^ 5 



J. M'Creery, Printer, 

Black-Horse-Court, London. 



ADVERTISEMENT- 



The following pages were written amid a 
variety of pursuits in the course of the last 
two months. They are now 7 given with some 
precipitation to the public, in consequence of 
a belief, that, if destined to be at all useful, 
they may be particularly so at this moment. 
It was originally intended to insert the name 
of the gentleman to whom they are addressed, 
and who enjoys, both here and abroad, the 
highest reputation as a statesman and an au- 
thor. Considerations of a private nature 
have induced the writer to relinquish this 
plan, but he has still thought proper to retain 
the form of a letter, which exacts a less scru- 
pulous adherence to method than any other 
shape, into which his ideas could have been 
thrown. He disclaims all party feelings or 
views, and is animated solely by a wish to 
promote the cause of truth. The sketch 



IV 

which he has drawn of the French finances, 
is collected from original documents of un- 
questionable authority, and, together with 
many of the topics in relation to the state of 
England, upon which he has merely touched, 
forms but the outline of a much larger work 
which he now has in a state of forwardness. In 
the publication of these pages, he derives no 
small confidence from the habitual attention 
which he has given to political studies, and 
from the frequent intercourse which he en- 
joyed, during a long residence abroad, with 
jnany of the most enlightened statesmen of 
Europe. These advantages greatly facilitated 
the attainment of correct information, and in 
the opinion of those particularly who are ac- 
quainted with the extent of the last, cannot 
fail to add weight to his theory, and to stamp 
a character of peculiar authenticity on the 
facts which he has occasion to introduce in 
the progress of this inquiry. 

Philadelphia, December 2, 1809. 



A LETTER, 

&c. 



MY DEAR SIR, 

JlN the course of the conversations which we 
have held since my return from Europe* you 
have often had the goodness to express a wish 
to see my views of the actual condition of 
France, and of the genius of her government, 
presented wilh more detail and method than 
the nature of our verbal intercourse would 
admit. The encouragement I derive from 
your favourable opinion, and the desire which 
I have always felt of being useful to our coun- 
try, have, at length, determined me to under- 
take this investigation, from which I have 
been hitherto diverted by a multitude of do- 
mestic avocations. 

A 



2 



If I had not known how few of the sound 
political tracts of Europe are in circulation 
here, and how little we are in the habit of 
reasoning from general views, I should have 
been surprised to find opinions in vogue, which 
have been lung since abandoned even by that 
description of European politicians whose sym- 
pathies were once so powerfully attracted to 
the success of French policy both external - 
and domestic. Were our own errors merely 
speculative, and not of essential importance 
to our vital interests, we might view them, if 
not with an eye of indifference, at least, with- 
out feelings of dismay ; but, it is our misfor- 
tune that the character of our internal admini- 
stration, of our moral habits and of our foreign 
relations, — that our laws and liberties depend, 
in a great degree, upon a proper understand- 
ing of the genius and dispositions of the French 
government Our destinies appear to me no 
otherwise ambiguous, than as they rest upon 
the sentiments which I wish to see universally 
predominant, — of cordial detestation for the 
profligacy, and of timely resistance to the ma- 
chinations of a power, which, circumscribed 



3 



by no law, and checked by no scruple, medi- 
tates the subjugation of this, as well as of 
every other country. 

There are, I know, many among us, whose 
predilections for French alliance, no calcula- 
tion of consequences may be effectual to sub- 
due, — but I am well satisfied, that we have a 
great majority, who need but a just sense of 
the character and effects of French despotism, 
to be induced to unite in opposing whatever 
attempts may be made, either by treachery or 
violence, to yoke us to the car of the common 
enemy of mankind. The well-intentioned part 
of our citizens should be taught to under- 
stand, that it belongs to the nature, as it is the 
systematic plan, of the government of France, 
to grasp at universal dominion ; that the evils 
which this gigantic despotism entails upon 
France herself are no less galling, than those 
to which the conquered territories are subject ; 
that every where the luxuries of the rich, and 
the necessaries of the poor are alike assailed ; 
that we not only share with the British in the 
hatred which is cherished against them by the 



4 



Cabinet of St Cloud, but are equally marked 
out tor destruction. The details which I have 
to offer will serve to establish these positions. 
1 shall commence by an inquiry into the first. 

All the writers* who have discussed the 
state of Europe before the French revolution, 
concur in representing France as better fitted 
than any other power for the attainment of 
universal empire. Her geographical position, 
the numbers, the compactness, and the martial 
character of her population, the ambitious 
projects and restless intrigue of her rulers, 
furnished her eminently with the moral and 
physical energies for this purpose. The his- 
tory of the continental politics of the last cen- 
tury; the correspondence between the foreign 
ministers of France and their court, and the 
domestic annals of that court towards the close 
of the last reign, must convince every reflecting 
reader, that the French politicians of the day 

* See Hume's Essay on Balance of Power — Boling- 
broke's Sketch of the State of Europe, vol. vii— Ancillon's 
Tableau des Revolutions Politiques de TEurope ; and the 
French writers universally. 



were profoundly sensible of their advantages, 
and eagerly sought an opportunity of exerting 
them for the establishment of an unlimited con- 
trol over the continent* The obstacles to the 
accomplishment of this end before the revolu- 
tion, are to be discovered — in the civil institu- 
tions, in certain established habits, and in the 
limited forms of government, of which France 
then partook with the rest of Europe. The ba- 
lance of power, which for three centuries, pre- 
vented the destruction of any one independent 
state by violent means, and exhibited, before 
the dismemberment of Poland, nineteen dis- 
tinct powers of the most unequal strength, is 
to be ascribed, not to the moderation or to 
the jealousy of the four great rivals, but to 
what may be termed, an equilibrium of weak- 
ness in their military constitutions. 

It was computed by the most celebrated 

* I refer particularly to the IC Politique de tous lea 
Cabinets,*' on this subject. See in that work — u Les Con. 
jectures Raisonnees de Favier, sar la Situation actuelle 
de la France, dans le Systeme Politique de l f Europe."-— 
" La nation," says he, |C a regne jadis sur toute l'Europe 
connue," &c. 



6 



writers on political arithmetic, that no state 
could maintain at one time, without absolute 
ruin, more than the one hundredth part of its 
military population in arms. This arose from 
various causes: — 1st, The necessity of propor- 
tioning the military force, the great instru- 
ment of dominion, not merely to the numerical 
population, but to that which remained after 
every deduction in favour of the agriculture, 
the commerce, the manufactures, the luxuries 
and the aristocratic distinctions of nations, of 
whose governments it was the chief interest 
and the fundamental policy to cultivate the 
arts of peace. 2d, The maxim universally a- 
dopted, and strictly true under the former 
circumstances of Europe — that money consti- 
tuted the sinews of war. The extent of the 
levies and the duration of hostilities in the 
former wars of the continent depended upon 
the financial resources of the belligerents. In 
every country the system of finance was more 
or less regular and equitable, and the monarch 
unaided by the expedients of violence and 
fraud, to which the revolutionary governments 
of France had recourse, was compelled to ac- 



commodate his military efforts to the poverty 
of his exchequer. The idea of supporting ar- 
mies upon the territories of an enemy appears 
never to have been entertained, and could 
not have been carried into effect ; as no one 
power had a decided superiority over the rest, 
such as the French now enjoy, in general tac- 
tics and numbers, and in the education and 
character of their troops. This stale of things 
precluded the possibility of continuing for 
any length of time the momentum necessary 
for permanent conquest. Nations of husband- 
men, of artificers and manufacturers, were ut- 
terly incapable of pursuing a regular plan, or 
of furnishing the means for the attainment of 
universal empire ; nor could armies, drawn 
from looms and forges, acquire the spirit or 
the discipline to qualify them for becoming 
the masters of the world. 

In conjunction with these causes, the pur- 
suits of commerce, also, which became so va- 
rious and complicated after the discoveries of 
Columbus, conspired to keep the leading pow- 
ers within their proper sphere, and to prevent 



the exertion of those means by which France 
has since been enabled to shatter the strength 
and to crush the independence of the conti- 
nent. This tragical catastrophe, of which half 
the evils have not as yet been disclosed, was, 
, moreover, retarded by the mode in which the 
French armies, together with those of all the 
continental powers, were reciuited. It was 
obvious to every reader of ancient history, that 
the conquering nations of old could never have 
achieved their purpose, without a regular code 
of military education, and unless their go- 
vernments had been invested with an unlimit- 
ed command over the population of the terri- 
tories subject to their authority. The system 
of voluntary levies is wholly incompatible with 
a plan of boundless aggrandisement, and it 
was therefore General Jourdan exultingly de- 
clared to the Convention, when they enacted 
the tyrannical law of the requisition — " that 
"the moment they pronounced the compulsory 
16 levy en masse to be permanent, they decreed 
'*the power of the republic to be imperishable." 

Such were the shackles by which France was 



fettered until the period of her revolution, atfd 
from which she was released by that extraor- 
dinary event. Mr. Burke ascribes it, in some 
measure, to an impatience on the part of her 
politicians to see themselves engaged without 
impediment in the career of conquest*. It is, 
however, unnecessary for us to investigate the 
causes to which the first eruptions of the revo- 
lutionary volcano are to be traced; but, in 
order to understand the character of the im- 
perial government, it may be useful to ex- 
amine what were the facilities with which she 
was furnished for the subjugation of the con- 
tinent by the destruction of her monarchy and 
of her old institutions. Whenever I review 
this topic, to me it is no longer a subject of 
astonishment that the nations of the conti- 
nent were found so brittle ; and that France 
has effectuated nearly as much within a few 
years, as the Romans were able to accomplish 
in as many centuries. 

By the revolution her relative situation was 
* Regicide Peace, p. 159, 163, 171, 179* 

B 



10 



totally changed. One of its first effects was 
the destruction of all those interests by which 
the old government, in common with the rest 
of Europe, was influenced and checked. While 
the other states of the continent continued to 
revolve in the orbits in which their maxims and 
habits retained them — France was loosened, as 
it were, from the political firmament, and 
prepared to pursue any direction, or to receive 
any impulse, which her new rulers might 
choose to give. In the decomposition of the 
original mass, materials were found for the 
construction of a new system, retaining 
the invigorating elements of the old, but 
shaped from the models of antiquity, and en- 
dued with a distempered energy more formi- 
dable than any degree of strength of w;hich the 
constitution of the latter was at any time sus- 
ceptible. It was predicted, many years be- 
fore, by a writer who had diligently studied 
the military establishments of modern Europe, 
ic that the continent would be speedify en- 
" slaved should a nation, with the resources 
*' of Prance, break through the forms and 
M trammels of the civil constitutions of the 



11 



" period ; shake off fiscal solicitudes by a 
" general bankruptcy ; turn her attention ex- 
" clusively to military affairs ; and organize 
" a regular plan of universal empire*.'' Such 
precisely was the position of France/ when, 
after the first years of the revolution, she had 
formed an immense military force, and the 
course of events had lodged an omnipotent 
authority in the hands of a body of enthusi- 
astic and ambitious theorists, who completely 
realized this view of things, and whom ex- 

* Guibert. Essai de Tactique. Sir James Steuart has 
a carious passage on this subject. He supposes a case 
precisely similar, and concludes with the following re- 
marks : u I ask, what combination, among the modern 
European princes, would carry on a successful war against 
such a people ? What article would be wanting to their sub- 
sistence? And what country would defend themselves 
against the attack of such an enemy? Such a system 
of political economy, I readily grant, is not likely to take 
place : but, if ever it did, would it not effectually dash 
to pieces the whole fabric of trade and industry which 
has been forming for so many years? and would it not 
quickly oblige every other nation to adopt as far as possible, 
* similar conduct from a principle of self-preservation?'' 

{Political Econ. B. 2. C. 13.) 



12 



perience soon taught the truth of a maxim of 
Livy, so well confirmed by the events of the 
present time, — that in war there are but three 
essential requisites, " good soldiers, good 
" officers, and good fortune." 

Whoever attends to the progress of the 
French power, must be satisfied that it is not 
the work of chance; but, in a great degree, 
the result of a deliberate project for the sub- 
jugation of Europe, framed and acted upon 
even before the reign of the Directory. The 
conclusions which an attentive consideration 
of this subject had led me to adopt, were 
sanctioned by the acknowledgment of all the 
actors in the scene of the revolution, with 
whom I had occasion to converse in Paris. They 
drew from the history of the commonwealths 
of antiquity those arts of fraud and menace, 
of violence and seduction, by which the latter 
were enabled to beguile the weakness, to en- 
snare the cupidity, to confound the judg- 
ment, and to overpower the fortitude of 
mankind. The archives of the Assyrian 
and Macedonian, of the Greek and Roman 



13 



conquests, were and still are diligently 
searched, for precedents in the art of combin- 
ing cunning with force. The inveterate habits 
of intrigue — the vanity and ductility, which 
have always marked the national character — 
are all confederated for one grand and success- 
ful experiment, — that of trying, whether the 
master-springs of human conduct are not at 
all times the same: whether, with a deep 
knowledge of the temper of the age, with a 
congenial spirit and augmented means, the 
same principles and measures, skilfully adapted 
to circumstances, will not give the same results* 

The world has seen with how strong and 
steady an impetus, they have urged the accom- 
plishment of their views — and with what over- 
whelming rapidity of execution, they have de- 
molished the public law and the liberties of Eu- 
rope. In the boldness with which they conceiv- 
ed, in the vigour with which they have perpe- 
trated, their criminal enterprises — in the splen- 
dor and variety of their military achievements, 
— in the evils which they have inflicted upon 
the miserable victims of their power — they have 



u 



far exceeded all the examples furnished by the 
records of antiquity. Combining the subtlety 
of the Roman senate and the ferocity of the 
Goth, the wildest passions with the most deli- 
berate perfidy — discarding both in their do- 
mestic administration and their foreign policy, 
the feelings of nature, the obligations of con- 
science, the ties of friendship, the sense of ho- 
nor,— they drenched France as well as the rest 
of the continent in tears and blood, and have 
left not even the consolation of hope to those 
who examine attentively the present condition 
of Europe. The works of Livy and Sallust, and 
the commentaries of Machiavel and Montes- 
quieu, discover the closest parallel between 
the French and Roman conquerors — in the 
structure of their military system, in the pro- 
gress of their arms^ and in the tenor of their 
deportment towards allies and enemies. I have 
been powerfully struck with this similitude, 
but I should do injustice to the memory of 
the Roman republic, if I instituted a compari- 
son as to the character of the instruments, by 
whom their conquests were achieved. The 
ruffian horde now preying upon the carcase of 



15 



Europe, bears no more analogy to the " so- 
" lemn and sacred militia" of the Romans,* 
than the Convention bore to that body which 
Cicero has ventured to denominate, " the tem- 
4 ' pie of sanctity, and the refuge of all na« 
" tions."t 

To me it has always appeared that the 
French, from the first da wirings of their revo- 
lution, were more favorably situated than the : 
Romans for the attainment of universal em- 
pire. The obstacles in the way of the latter 
were more formidable and vanquished with 
more difficulty. In the first stages of their 
progress, they had to contend against nations 
who possessed military ajid civil institution* 
superior to their own, and whom they over- 
came only by adopting the excellencies of all 
In the extension of tlreir empire beyond the 
limits of Italy, they encountered, even fronv 

* Solemnis et sacra Roman orum militia. (Livy.) 

f (Senatus) Templum Sancitatis, caput urbi% ara so. 
ciorum, portus omnium gentium. (Cicero.) 






IS 



the barbarians, a vigorous and persevering 
resistance, inspired by the love of freedom, 
animated by the most determined hate, and 
supported by the most perfect unanimity. A 
barbarous militia, such as that which the Ger- 
mans, the Thracians, and the Scythians op- 
posed to the progress of their conquerors, is 
pronounced by Dr. Smith in his Wealth of 
Nations, to be more capable of defence, than 
the standing armies of modern times, consider- 
ed in their relation to the institutions of the 
period at which he wrote. 

The French republic, " cradled in war," en- 
joyed, ab origine, an irresistible superiority 
over the nations of the continent The latter 
had to contend, at the same time, against 
external attack, and against the danger of 
internal commotion, arising from the diffu- 
sion of jacobinism. Those of the south were 
at the mercy of the first invader. Their 
armies wanted both the courage which sup- 
plies the place of discipline, and the discipline 
which compensates for the absence of courage. 
The states of Germany and of the North 



17 



never appreciated duly the character or the 
perils of the new war in which they found 
themselves engaged. It was no longer a 
contest about " the hoisting or lowering of 
a sail," or about " little carvings and par- 
titions ;'' to be waged with irresolute and im- 
provident councils, and to be terminated by 
timid and shuffling negotiation. As modern 
Europe had never known an universal do- 
minion, they could not imagine a possibility 
of the conception or of the execution of such 
a plan. A certain association of ideas had be- 
come habitual, and was viewed with too much 
favour to be broken upon the faith of any pre- 
diction. To form, what the new state of 
things required, — new combinations, — by 
which all their hereditary prejudices and use- 
ful antipathies, and the whole scheme of nor- 
thern policy, were to be at once exploded, 
was an effort which the gigantic strides of 
their enemy have not as yet sufficed to extort. 
The power of the republic was at first despised 
as a mere phantasmagoria, and at length re- 
garded with sentiments of despondency and 
dismay, which enfeebled every exertion. 

C 



18 



Nothing, indeed, but a total revolution hi 
the internal constitutions of the other states 
could have prepared them to meet France on 
equal terms, — with a military system yield- 
ing an inexhaustible supply of men, and a 
code of principles alike destructive to their 
domestic interests and to the general prospe- 
rity of Europe. 



Throughout all the changes of government 
which France has undergone, there has been 
an unbroken continuity of views and charac- 
ter. The power of Bonaparte is the mere off- 
spring of the genius and necessities of the re- 
public. He assumed the reins of authority at 
a crisis when it was necessary to commit them 
to a single hand, and under circumstances 
which admitted of no other rule than that of 
an enterprising military chief I have been told 
by some of those who planned the revolution 
of the 18th Brumaire, that the consular power 



19 



was first tendered toMoreau; but that, on 
the unexpected arrival of Bonaparte from Egypt, 
the former designated him as a more suitable 
instrument for their purpose. It is not to the 
character and talents alone of the present rulep 
however well adapted to his station, that we 
are to ascribe the career which France has run 
since his accession. I insist the more on this 
consideration, because it leads to important 
conclusions. " The swing and impulse" were 
already given. He did but move in concert 
with the regular march, and can scarcely 
be said to have outstripped the inherent alac- 
rity of the system which he was selected to ad- 
minister. He has, indeed, adjusted all the 
parts, — strengthened the springs, — and mono- 
polized the government, of this colossal en- 
gine of conquest, with a degree of skill and 
energy like that with which the Jupiter of 
the fable is said to have usurped and wielded 
the empire of Saturn. But he and his imme- 
diate predecessors were conquerors from neces- 
sity as well as from choice. To disband the 
armies would have been an act of political 
suicide, and was in itself utterly impossible. 



20 



It was no less impossible to maintain them 
within the limits of the French territory. Ex- 
clusive of other considerations, the state of 
their finances presented an insuperable obsta- 
cle to the latter alternative. The regular re- 
ceipts of the treasury were altogether insuffi- 
cient for the expense. They had irretrievably 
deprived themselves of the resources of cre- 
dit and of paper circulation ; and although, 
according to an idea of Mr. Burke, a savage 
and disorderly peppk will suffer a robbery 
with more patience than an impost, the expedi- 
ents of violence could not have been available 
in a country completely ruined and exhausted. 
It is easy to show, from the representations of 
their own financiers, that no device of fiscal 
alchymy would have furnished the means of 
supporting the armies in the interior, — and that 
foreign plunder was, therefore, a necessary re- 
source. It will be seen, from what I shall state 
hereafter on the subject of the finances of the 
empire, that the same connexion continues to 
subsist between them and the military system* 



* A prince," says Machiavel, u should have 
no other design, nor thought, nor study, than 
war." The extraordinary being who now go- 
verns France, is compelled to adhere to this 
maxim, — not only by the efficacy of habit and 
predilection, but from a consciousness that 
he cannot otherwise preserve his dominion. 
As the supremacy of the French power depends 
upon the military organization of the empire, 
— the existence of an emperor hangs upon 
the support of the armies. With Bonaparte, 
therefore, every measure of internal adminis- 
tration is but collateral to the main object. 
To be beloved in the interior is not his aim, 
and unfortunately not his chief interest. He 
knows that in a monarchy, from which the 
principle of honour is banished, the tie of obli- 
gation is miserably weak, unless strengthened 
by the apprehensions of fear. At this moment 
the only measure of authority throughout the 
whole empire, is force, In the course of my 
remarks, I was in no respect more astonished 
than in observing, how completely the revo- 



22 



hition has extinguished every principle of civil 
subordination* 

The superiority of privileges, the lustre 
of titles, and the substantial fruits of con- 
quest, are chiefly lavished on the generals ; 
but still he has not forgotten another princi- 
ple of Machiavel, — that men of influence and 
intrigue are to be conciliated by benefits, 
whatever may be the degree of oppression 
exercised over the mass of the people. The 
civil dignitaries, therefore, are not without 
an ample provision, — although he has cau- 
tiously abstained from investing them with 
such hereditary or corporate immunities as 
might restrain, while they would conduce to 
secure, the authority of the Sovereign. His 
personal character is well suited to the diffi- 
culties of his station. His military renown 
has an effulgence brighter than that of any of 
his generals, and has acquired for him the 
entire confidence of the soldiery. He has no 
scandalous undisguised vices, or periodical 
weaknesses, calculated to diminish with the 
armies the force of his reputation, or to 



23 



counteract the ascendancy of his genius.* The 
restless activity of his ambition, the com- 
prehensive boldness of his plans, and the un- 
interrupted succession of great enterprises in 
which he is engaged, serve to remove domes- 
tic perils, in adding to the strength and majesty 
of the throne. No leisure is given for machi 
nations in the interior, — no scope for ambi- 
tious projects among the leaders of the army. 
His subjects are kept in constant admiration 
and suspense. Splendid achievements and 

* I must be understood here as alluding to his military 
character. In every other respect there is as little moral 
as there is political prudery about one, who combines n>a T 
ny of the worst, and apparently opposite qualities of .our 
nature — 

cui tristia bella 
Iras que, insidiceque, et crimina noxia cordi. 
His "splendid wickedness,'' however, appears to have 
overpowered and dazzled the imaginations of men, and 
rather to have conciliated favour than raised abhorrence. 
We may suspect that even with' republicans, the lustre of the 
imperial throne has not lost all its efficacy in u shadowing* 
crimes — 

e tu ben sai que Tombra 
D'un trono e grande per coprir delitti. 



24 



undistinguishing pillage constitute the neces- 
ary policy, as well as the natural and favour- 
ite pursuit of "the modern Charlemagne." 

Throughout ail France, the note of military 
preparation drowns every other indication of 
activity — and the thirst of conquest appeaYs 
to supersede every other desire. In the capi- 
tal, all the faculties of thought and action 
which either individuals or public bodies can 
furnish in aid of the general design, are ap- 
plied and disciplined with a regular and effec- 
tive subserviency, which to me was truly as- 
tonishing. I found on all sides, an unity of 
views, — an activity in planning and systema- 
tizing the devices of ambition, — an eagerness 
for the issue, and a sanguine assurance of 
success,— almost incredible, and more like 
the effects of revolutionary frenzy, than those 
of a concert between the insatiable ambition 
of an audacious tyrant and the active talents 
and natural propensities of a body of tremb- 
ling slaves. From the commencement of the 
revolution particularly, emissaries have been 
scattered over Europe in order to study and 



S5 



delineate its geographical face. The harvest 
of their labours, now deposited in Paris, has 
furnished the imperial government with a 
knowledge of the territory of the other pow- 
ers, much more minute and accurate than 
that which the latter themselves possess. 
The Depot de la Guerre occupies, unremit- 
tingly, several hundred clerks in tracing maps 
and collecting topographical details, to mi- 
nister to the military purposes of the govern- 
ment All the great estates of Spain were 
marked and parcelled out long before the last 
invasion of that country, — and it is not too 
much to affirm, that those of England are 
equally well known and already partitioned. 

The idea of unlimited sway is studiously 
kept before the public mind,— and the future 
empire of France over the nations of the earth, 
exultingly proclaimed, in all the songs of the 
theatres and in public discourses of every de- 
scription. Even the gaunt and ragged beings, 
who prowl about the streets and infest the 
night-cellars of Paris; — the famished outcasts, 
— many of whom are men of decent exterior 

D 



26 



and advanced age, beggared by the revolution^ 
— who haunt the Bouvelards and public gar- 
dens, in order to enjoy* under the rays of the 
sun, that enlivening warmth which their po- 
verty denies them at home, — and who, by their 
wan and melancholy aspect, excite the horror 
and compassion of a stranger — all appear to 
forget, for a moment, their own miseries, in 
anticipating the brilliant destinies of the em- 
pire, and contemplating Paris, in prospective, 
as the metropolis of the world. The inhabi- 
tants of the country and of the provincial 
cities, — whose condition the war renders mi- 
serable beyond description, and who secretly 
invoke the bitterest curses on their rulers,— * 
are, nevertheless, (for such is the character 
of this extraordinary people) not without their 
share in the general avidity for power ; anc? # 
when the sense of their wretchedness does not 
press too strongly upon them, can even con?* 
sent to view the extension of the national in- 
fluence and renown in the light of a personal 
benefit 

The French emperor appears to me to Rave 



•27 



formed a just estimate of the nature and ex* 
tent of his power in his foreign, — as Avell asm 
his domestic relations. While his armies, the 
irresistible instruments of his will, remain en- 
tire, he is satisfied that the standard of revolt 
cannot be successfully raised either abroad or 
at home. He disregards, therefore, the mere 
murmurs of discontent, and is careless about 
the individual distress or the general calami- 
ties to wlrich the< execution of his plans may 
^ead. As long as he retains the troops at his 
devotion, and waves his victorious banners 
over the strongest parts of Europe, — he sees 
that no combination can be formed against 
him, which he may not .instantaneously dis- 
solve. " History proves, " says Mably, "that 
" when once a nation becomes greatly supe- 
AM rior to its enemies in strength, it is possible 
" for it to be detested by the whole world 
* l and yet successful in its enterprizes." The 
3-eatJer has but to consult the pages of Poly- 
ttius and the declamations of Cicero* to 

* Difficile est dictu, quanto in odio simus apud exteras 
jrationes propter eorum, quos ad eos per hos annos cum 



28 



learn what were the calamities to which the 
Romans subjected the territories brought un- 
der their yoke, and in what detestation they 
were generally held. Insurrections were con- 
stantly bursting forth in the distant pro- 
vinces, — but served only to rivet the adaman- 
tine chains of the conquered, and to open 
fresh sources of plunder to the conquerors. 
It is these that Machiavel counsels a military 
usurper to provoke, in order M to strengthen 
" his own greatness and to obtain colorable 
" pretexts for rapine."* Partial risings in 

imperio misimus, injurias ac libidines. Quod enim sanum 
putatis in illis tefKs nostris magisiratibus religiosum, quam 
civitatem sanctam, quam domum satis clausam ac munitam 
fuisse ? (Pro leg. Manil. cap. 22. art. 65.) Lugent omnes 
provincial: queruntur omnes liberi populi, regna denique 
jam omnia de nostris cupiditatibus et injuriis expostulant : 
locus intra oceanum jam nullus est neque tarn longinquus, 
neque tarn reconditus, quo, non, per haec tempora, nos* 
trorum hominum libido, iniquhasque pervaserit (in Verr, 
Action. 2. l«b. 3. cap. 89.)— See also, Polybius, 9th B. 
for an account of the exactions of Rome* And, Livy, I, 
viii. xi. & x. 

* Pnnc. cap, xx> 



29 



Italy or in the North of Germany will but 
contribute in this way to the plans of Bona- 
parte. The tumultuary defence of the Spa* 
niards, and the swaggering of the Portu- 
guese, will be scarcely more formidable. He 
strikes at the centre or heart of the adverse 
power, and is sure that the extremities will 
speedily yield. He knows generally, that a 
monarch, whose power puts him beyond the 
dread of invasion, has it in his election when 
to wage war or to make peace, — and that the 
final success of a nation like France is secured 
by the relation, (which an established system 
draws closer every day) between her military 
organization and her social and political con- 
stitution. I shall now proceed to pass in 
review his conduct towards Spain and the 
Northern powers, in order to make the true 
spirit of his government the more apparent. 
The ideas which I shall submit to you relative 
to the weakness of those powers, will serve 
to confirm my position — that the continent is 
not sinking under the ascendant of his mili- 






SO 



tary genius atone, but under the colossal 
weight <}f the empire which he wields. 



Of all the usurpations which history re- 
cords, there is none more odious for syste- 
matic perfidy in the plan, or more shocking 
for uncoloured violence in the execution, than 
that which we have recently witnessed in the 
case of Spain. There was so awful a warning 
in this event, — it was calculated to impart so 
irresistible a conviction of the true character 
and views of the French government, — that it 
is, at first, not easy to conceive, how it could 
have failed to light into a flame every spark 
of feeling or energy which remained to the 
nations of the earth. But the usurper knew 
too well the force of that potent spell in 
which he has bound Europe to be deterred 
by this apprehension. He was equally well 
apprized of the resources and disposition of 
the people he was about to attack ; and if his 
attempt has not as yet fully succeeded, it is 
not on account of a misapprehension of con- 
sequences on his part. 



31 



More than two years ago, during my resi- 
dence in Paris, I had occasion to know that 
this plan was in agitation. It was a common 
topic of conversation, that the Bourbons were 
to be dethroned in that country, and a Bona- 
parte introduced in their stead. This specu- 
lation was usually accompanied by a prophecy 
concerning the inevitable fall of Austria. 
All this, too, at a moment, when both na- 
tions were in alliance with France, — when 
Spain, which Mr. Burke, in the time of the 
Directory, denominated a fief of regicide, 
was to be considered, in every political calcu- 
lation, as a part of the resources of France. 
This trait alone is sufficient to evince the pro- 
fligacy of her politicians, and the sense which 
they entertain of the character of their go- 
vernment. They spoke of the necessity of 
regenerating Spain, as the Roman historians, 
who lived under Caligula and Domitian, speak 
with compassionate indignation of the slavery 
in which the Barbarians were held! For 
three years previous to the seizure of the royal 
femily, Spain was deluged with French emis- 
saries, commissioned to prepare the minds of 



32 



the people for the event — and with French 
engineers and draughtsmen, who were open- 
ly engaged in mapping the face of the coun- 
try, in examining the strong holds, and in 
exploring the locality and amount of the spoil 
which they expected to seize, 

Beauharnais, the elder brother of the first 
husband of the Empress, was then sent as mi- 
nister to Madrid, in order to prepare the de- 
velopment of the plan, I had some ac- 
quaintance with this gentleman, and was ena- 
bled to observe the great anxiety which his 
government displayed on the subject of his 
mission. For more than a month he was con* 
stantly on the eve of departure, but was de- 
layed from week to week on account of the 
new deliberations and arrangements which 
daily occurred. Beauhainais, although in- 
trepid and positive, is of a mild and humane 
character, and was surnamed the inflexible, at 
the commencement of the revolution, in 
consequence of his steady adherence to the 
royal cause. He was either found too scru- 
pulous for his station, or recoiled altogether 
from a co-operation in the crime; and as I 



33 



have since understood, was soon superseded 
by a more remorseless agent. The original 
plan was, to transport the royal family of 
Spain to South America, and to seize upon 
the crown as a derelict. This scheme, upon 
the advantages of which it would be needless 
to expatiate, was to be accomplished, as cir- 
cumstances must dictate, either with or with- 
out the assistance of the British. The consent 
of Charles and his queen was obtained, but 
the opposition of Ferdinand and his counsel- 
lors intercepted their flight, and excited 
among the populace, to whom their intention 
was disclosed, the alarm which led to the first 
commotions at Aranjuez. The immense force 
which Bonaparte introduced, clearly proves, 
that he foresaw the possibility of the subse- 
quent convulsions throughout Spain, and had 
made every provision against them which 
prudence could suggest. If the detention of 
Ferdinand, when lured into his toils by the 
blandishments of pretended friendship, shows 
that there are no refinements of dissimulation 
or artifices of perfidy of which he is not 
capable, — the massacre of three hundred in- 

E 



34 



nocent victims, whom Murat, the clay after 
the tumult of the 2d of May, caused to be 
grouped together and shot by his soldiery, in 
the principal square of Madrid, equally de- 
monstrates, that there is no excess of barba- 
rity, however atrocious, from which he would 
shrink in the prosecution of his views.* 

We must not suppose that Bonaparte was 
prompted to invade Spain, solely by the fever- 
ish restlessness of his spirit, and the desire of 
aggrandizing his family. He was guided by 
other powerful incitements, of which the most 
prominent were these : 1st, To gratify that 
unextinguishable hate which he cherishes a- 

* I had this fact from an eye-witness, one of the first 
deputies from Spain to the government of England. Don 
Andres de la Vega, to whom I allude, merited the most 
implicit faith, and conciliated, by his genius and his love 
of country, the highest respect from all those who knew 
him. He was a lawyer of Asturias before the present 
struggle in Spain, and deserved the eulogium which Cicero 
passes upon Quintus Scevola — that he was the most elo- 
quent of the learned, and the most learned of the eloquent. 
" Juris peritorum eloquentissimus— eloquentium juris peri* 
a tissimus/' 



35 



gainst the whole race of the Bourbons. — 2d, 
To collect an immediate and considerable 
booty, and thus to provide a new fund for the 
supply of his officers and soldiers* — 3d, To 
obtain more complete possession of the naval 
means which Spain could furnish, for the 
promotion of his designs on England. Al- 
though he might have preferred the unmolest- 
ed occupation of her government and re- 
sources, the chance of resistance was not to 
be regretted, according to his scheme of ag- 
gression. Had the people crouched to receive 
the oppressive dominion of their invaders, even 
the shadow of a pretext would have been 

* Sir Francis cTIvernois, speaking of the employment 
given to the French armies by the Directory, in his "His- 
torical Survey," has the following passage, u Perhaps they 
will order them to Madrid before they attempt a passage 
over the Danube ; but still the respite cannot be long. 
Were the plan executed as soOn as the Republican armies 
had circumscribed the king of Spain within his American 
possessions, they would be the better able to cope with the 
whole of Germany. It is with the plate of the Churches of 
Toledo that they would make themselves masters of th* 
mines of Kremnitz and the Hartz. 



36 



wanting for that system of confiscation, of 
robbery, and of proscription which he may 
now pursue, under colour of chastising rebel- 
lion. In the true spirit of a rapacious tyrant, 
he would willingly have made the criminal in 
order to punish the crime. The foundations 
of his throne may be more immoveably laid 
in the blood, than in the tame submission of 
the Spaniards. No mind will be found to 
stand erect, after the wretched experience of 
this struggle, in the midst of those horrible 
ruins which his triumph will leave, — and 
which, by the terror they must inspire, will 
break down whatever elasticity of spirit may 
yet endure, either in Spain or in the other 
countries dependent on his nod. 

Spain, when crushed by the weight of his 
arms, will, conformably to his menace, be 
treated as a conquered country, and declared 
the legitimate prey of the great nation, — to 
whose lenity she will be said to have forfeited 
all title, by obstinately resisting the accom- 
plishment of his benevolent views. The de- 
nunciation already hurled against the opulent 



37 



grandees, and the division of their estates 
among his officers, are but the first steps in 
that career of regeneration, which Spain, 
so foolishly reluctant, is to run under the 
mild and wholesome sway of her philanthro- 
pic invaders, I have seen among us, men of 
no mean understanding, who view the aboli- 
tion of the Inquisition and the suppression of 
the convents, as resulting from that hatred 
for tyranny and superstition by which Bona- 
parte has always been marked ; and who, if 
they had lived in the reign of Henry the 
Eighth, would no doubt have given him credit 
for the same motive, when he abolished the 
religious foundations of his kingdom, and 
emptied their wealth into the royal coffers. 
The modern champion of religious and poli- 
tical freedom has, however, done more, — and, 
in an article of the constitution allotted to 
Spain, has substituted for the Inquisition, a 
police, in almost all respects similar to that 
of Paris, and hatched under the same incuba- 
tion. 

During my residence in England, my atten- 
tion was earnestly drawn to whatever was said 



3S 



or written on the subject of Spain ; particu- 
larly after the commencement of the present 
contest. I enjoyed frequent opportunities of 
conversing with many of the most intelligent 
officers who embarked on the first expedition, 
and with several who visited that countrv for 
the purpose of ascertaining the true grounds 
upon which the public expectation was to 
rest. The result of all my inquiries fortified 
me in the conclusion to which the character 
of the invader naturally led — that he had 
formed but too just an estimate of the weak- 
ness and languor of the Spaniards. Two 
centuries ago, the House of Austria left Spain 
in a state of inconceivable wretchedness and 
decay. Under the two first monarchs of the 
Bourbon race, Philip the Fifth and Ferdinand, 
some little progress was made in resuscitating 
this once powerful nation. During the last 
reign the degree of improvement, although 
smalt, justified a belief, that she might, with- 
out any general convulsion or the total abolition 
of the old government, be raised to the level of 
the other commonwealths of Europe. But 
still Spain was an inert mass, a nerveless 
country, as Mr. Burke denominated her : of 



39 



all others the most disorderly in her civil, the 
weakest in her military constitution — without 
the use, but suffering the extreme abuse of a 
nobility; with inveterate habits of submission 
to the most enfeebling excesses of religious 
and political tyranny. Her population was 
on the decrease. Her regular army, at the 
period of Bonaparte's invasion, scarcely a- 
mounted to forty thousand effective men, and 
she was altogether destitute of a system for 
the production of a national force of any 
other description. The only element of re- 
sistance which remained, the sole principle of 
animation, was that deeply rooted hatred to 
their enemy, which pervaded almost all or- 
ders of men, and of which the French go- 
vernment was fully aware.* Combined with 
other impulses, this no doubt has great effi- 
cacy ; but the experience of mankind too 
clearly evinces, that it is not a motive of ac- 

* Favier, in his " Conjectures Raisonnees,'' contained 
in the u Politique de tous les Cabinets," commences a 
chapter on the subject of Spain in this way, u De la 
haine nationale contre les Francois," and dwells with great 
indignation on the <c blind and stupid hatred 9 ' entertained 
so universally by the Spaniards against his countrymen. 



40 



tion, or a bond of union, sufficiently perma- 
nent and potent, to bear up an oppressed na- 
tion against a great disparity of strength and 
skill. 

When the British forces marched into 
Spain, they found, what such considerations as 
these might have taught them to expect; here 
and there tumultuary assemblages, but no 
appearance whatever of regular military move- 
ments ; and so far were they from discovering 
a disposition in the people to co-operate in the 
task of their own deliverance, that they ex- 
perienced in their retreat greater inconveni- 
ence from the hostility of the Spanish pea- 
santry than from the pursuit of the foe. The 
letters of Sir John Moore, and the represen- 
tations of the English travellers, who ex- 
amined the state of the country are precisely 
of the same tenor. An effervescence was al- 
most every where excited, but was allowed 
to evaporate in empty boast and menaces. 
Treachery and fear marked the conduct of the 
higher classes ; who, by their example disarmed 
the passions, while they counteracted the efforts 
of the multitude. The juntas were almost uni- 



41 

versally bodies of inactive, illiterate, formal- 
izing men; without the magnanimity to con- 
ceive, or the courage to execute, any prompt, 
comprehensive and hardy plan of operations. 
Great credit is unquestionably due to the 
defence of Saragossa, and to the spirit mani- 
fested by some few of the privileged orders, 
and by most of the professional men. But 
I think it must be apparent, upon an atten- 
tive survey of the history of this struggle, — 
that the exertions of the Spaniards were by 
no means commensurate with the extent of 
their physical resources, tiQr : such as would 
for any time have frustrated the designs of 
Bonaparte* , had not, the Austrian war inter- 
posed to break the force of his attack. 
The English ministry committed errors in 
their mode of co-operation, of which they 
must now heartily repent. In attempting to 
rouse the moral energies of the country, they 
made their appeal to the prejudices of slavery 
and fanaticism, — when, in such a cause, <l the 
soul of freedom*" and a deep steady feeling of 

* <; Slaves that oftce conceive the glowing thought 

*' Of Freedom, in that &ope itself possess 

" All that the contest calls for ; spirit, strength, 

" The 



49 



self-interest in the minds of the people, were 
the only auxiliaries fitted to supply the ab- 
sence of skill and discipline. Instead of send- 
ing their armies to meet the invader at the 
bottom of the Pyrenees, they dispatched them 
to a distant theatre of action ;— not to the 
centre of the danger, but to the circumference, 
where nothing finally decisive could be 
effected, even with the most complete suc- 
cess. They had before their eyes a long 
succession of similar events to teach the neces- 
sity of vigorous and unhesitating exertion. 
It required neither the hind of Sertorius nor 
the nymph of Scipio to instruct them in what 
manner the war was to be conducted by their 
antagonist. 



In commenting thus on what I suppose to 
have been the errors of the British cabinet, I 
would not be understood as intending: to im- 



*£> 



4i The scorn of danger and united hearts, 
u The surest presage of the good they seek.** 

COWPER, 



43 



peach their motives. I was in England at the 
commencement of the Spanish struggle, and 
witnessed the progress of public sentiment on 
this subject, — not only in the capital, but in 
almost every part of the country. Never did 
any nation exhibit a more sublime and edify- 
ing spectacle, or an elevation of character 
so perfectly co-ordinate with the lofty emi- 
nence on which she was placed by this unex- 
pected event Whatever calculations of in- 
terest may have been indulged in the coun- 
cils of the ministry, — and with them, they 
were, I believe altogether secondary, — none 
were to be discovered in the spontaneous 
soaring and eager compassion of the mass of 
the nation. Indignation at the unparalleled 
wrongs, — sympathy for the the cruel suffer- 
ings of the Spaniards, — alone animated every 
class of this generous and high-minded peo- 
ple, and called forth an enthusiasm not less 
ardent, than if they themselves had been the 
victims. Queen Elizabeth and her subjects 
did not feel or display a more lively re- 
sentment, when the courts of France and 
Spain conspired at Bayonne to assail her do- 



44 



minions and subvert her throne, than did the 
English of the present day, at the similar 
projects concerted in the same city against 
Spain, — so long the willing instrument of the 
schemes projected for their own destruction. 

On the arrival of the first deputies from 
Asturias, the country was thrown into an ab- 
solute delirium of hope and joy, — not on 
account of any advantages which might ac- 
crue to England from the incipient struggle, 
— but because from the deepest obscurity of 
the gloom that overspread the continent, a 
ray of light had broke forth, which promised 
to illuminate the whole political horizon ; — 
and because a prospect was at length afforded 
of avenging the rights of justice and hu- 
manity, on the very theatre where they had 
been most shamefully violated and abused. In 
the whole course of this national emotion, 
there was something cheering and ennobling 
for those who still value the dignity of our 
species, and eminently consolitary for one like 
myself, who, having seen but the present 
state of mankind, might have regarded the 



45 



cases which history records, of the heroic de- 
votion of states, as mere fabulous declamation, 
or admired the models which she presents, 
only in the light of a philosophical romance. 

There are various instances in the annals of 
the world, of nations oppressed either by 
foreign or domestic foes, claiming relief from 
the magnanimity of a powerful people ; and 
in those of England herself, the most re- 
markable, perhaps, are to be found : — When 
Elizabeth, called upon to assert the laws of 
justice, and with subjects clamorous for the 
gratuitous interference of her power, exerted 
it to secure the independence of Holland, and 
to rescue the Netherlands from the desolating 
tyranny of the dukeof Alva*: — When Wijljam, 
become the sole refuge of the north of Europe 
and seconded by the generous sympathies 
and enlarged wisdom of his people, frustrated 
the ambitious projects of France, and render- 

* See the eloquent passage of Bolingbroke on the con- 
duct of Elizabeth, in this instance, 10th vol. Political 
Works, Letter 13th. 



46 



ed England, according to the expression of 
Mr. Burke, the arbitress of Europe, and the 
tutelary angel of the human race. But what- 
ever may have been her elevation at those pe- 
riods, the attitude in which she stood, when 
Spain first implored succour from her gener- 
osity, was infinitely more grand and imposing, 
than any in which her own annals or those 
of the world exhibit any nation whatever. 
The nature of the contest which she has so 
long waged— the melancholy condition of the 
continent* — The relation in which Spain be- 

# u Where, sunk by many a wound, heroic states 
" Mourn in the dust, and tremble at the frown 
u Of hard ambition : where the gen'rous band 
€i Of youths who fought for freedom and their sires, 
11 Lie side by side in blood : where brutal force 
** Usurps the throne of justice, turns the pomp 
H Of guardian power, the majesty of rule, 
*' The sword, the laurel, and the purple robe, 
w To poor dishonest pageants, to adorn 
44 A robber's walk, and glitter in the eyes 
4i Of such as bow I he knee/* 

Akenside 9 who drew this picture from his imagination, 
little thought that it would be so soon realized. The con* 
duct of his countrymen with regard to Spain, would alone 
enable them to apply to themselves another passage of 



47 



fore stood in her regard — the cruel wrongs 
and the miserable weakness of the suppliants 
— the importance of the ends to be achieved 
by the successful exertion of her strength — 
all gave an interest to this conjuncture, which 
no posture of human affairs, or vicissitude of 
fortune, was ever before calculated to inspire. 
Both the government and the people corres- 
ponded, by the exuberance of their succours, 
to the liberal and disinterested zeal, with 
which they embraced the Spanish cause, 
and completed a picture, upon which man- 
kind will hereafter love to dwell. I saw the 
effect which it produced upon the deputies, 
who were welcomed as if they had been deli* 
verers — not suppliants. They frequently shed 



the Poet, in relation to those whose souls can repine at 
this u big distress :" 

u The dregs corrupt 
* Of barbarous ages, that Circean draught 
u Of servitude and folly, have not yet, 
u (Biess'd be th' eternal Ruler of the world I) 
4 c Yet have not so dishonour' d and deform'd 
<c The native judgment of the human soul, 
4< Nor so defaced the image of her Sire.*' 



48 



s tears of gratitude and joy, and appeared to 
be more overpowered by the nature of their 
reception, than by the contemplation of that 
unrivalled scene of public and individual fe- 
licity, — that vigor and independence of mind, 
— and those moral and political institutions, — 
which place England so far above every 
other European country in the scale of ex- 
cellence. 



The fate of Spain was deferred by the un- 
expected resolution of Austria to risk another 
contest in order to preserve her existence. I 
say wiexpecied ; — because it could not have 
belonged to the plans of Bonaparte to attack 
the one, until the other was subdued. The 
plunder and additional reputation of strength 
to be drawn from the acquisition of Spain, 
were to facilitate the destruction of the Aus- 
trian monarchy, and the prosecution of his 
designs on the north. It was utterly impos- 
sible for the Austrian cabinet to have remained 
ignorant of his viewsf. They were disclosed 
after the peace of Tilsit without reserve. The 



49 



declarations of implacable hostility were uni- 
form and positive, — and the demands upon 
Austria, such as we have seen them stated in 
her last manifesto, of a nature to render the ul- 
terior plan altogether unequivocal* By that 
sort of infatuation on the subject of France, 
which in almost every country has operated 
like the spells of sorcery, the people of Ger- 
many, however, were not sensible of the dan- 

* Cevallos relates, that in an interview between himself 
and the Emperor of France at Bayonne, the latter fre- 
quently interrogated him concerning the length of time 
which might be necessary for the entire subjugation of Spain. 
On being told that three months, would be sufficient , he dis- 
played considerable emotion ; and, striking his forehead, 
exclaimed — That it would do, as he had an account to set* 
tie with Austria. This exclamation he repeated several 
times. It is also said, that a letter written by the king of 
Westphalia to some one of his old associates of Guadaloupe* 
was, about a twelvemonth ago, seized by the British on 
board of a French vessel, boud to that island : in which 
letter it was stated that Jerome expected to be made king 
of Austria within a short period. One may justly apply to 
all the members of this family the verses of Claudian : 

His neque per dubium pendet Fortuna favorem, 

Nee novit mutare vices; sed fixus in omnes 

Cognatos precedit honos. 

Consul. Olyb. # Prob. 1. 10. 

G 




50 



gcr with which they were threatened, nor 
awakened to a just view of the evils which 
that danger, when realised, would entail upon 
them. It may be collected from the procla- 
mations of the Austrian government, that a 
deplorable apathy prevailed among the people, 
at the commencement of the late contest. — 
The want of a proper correspondence on their 
part, long embarrassed the efforts of their ru- 
lers ; but a conviction — resulting from the 
clearest proof — of the ruin with which they 
were menaced, at length drove the latter to 
the necessity of labouring assiduously to es- 
tablish a military system, similar to that which 
had so materially contributed to the superi* 
ority of their enemies. The activity of their 
preparations alarmed the jealousy of the French 
government, and forms the ground of the 
complaints urged by Champagny in his corres- 
pondence with the Austrian minister Metier- 
nich, and of his peremptory and insulting de- 
mand of the relinquishment of the new plan 
of military organization. The whole of this 
correspondence is exceedingly curious, and 
warrants the conclusion, — that the French 




51 



emperor might have continued the war in Spain 
undisturbed, if he had been willing to over- 
look the preparations of Austria. But it was 
essentially necessary for him to arrest the pro- 
gress of a system, which would have placed 
her power more upon a level with his own ; 
and, when matured, might have opposed se- 
rious impediments to the execution of his ge- 
neral plans. Spain was, therefore, abandoned 
for the moment, and Austria reduced to the 
alternative, either of depriving herself of all 
means of defence, or of engaging in an im- 
mediate struggle for her existence. 



Those who are inclined to dispute the pro- 
ject of universal conquest ascribed to France, 
—and her ambitious views on Austria, — argue 
from the seeming moderation displayed by- 
Bonaparte in his last war with that power ; 
when her capital was in his hands, and the 
monarchy appeared altogether at his mercy. 
That moderation, however, may be easily re- 
conciled with his plans; and was in fact, 




52 



calculated to promote them. It was the com- 
mon policy of his prototypes of antiquity, 
when similarly circumstanced. They often 
found it useful to weaken their enemies so far 
as to have nothing to fear from them ; but 
carefully abstained from afflicting all the pos- 
sible evil in their power. They paved the way 
for future and entire conquest, and thought 
it unwise to provoke* too suddenly, the resis- 
tance of despair, and the vicissitudes of for- 
tune. The appearance of moderation lessen- 
ed the odium and the alarms, which Bona- 
parte's immense accession of strength by the 
treaty of Presburg, was fitted to excite in the 
Russian and Prussian cabinets. His views upon 
the north were not altogether ripe for execu- 
tion ; and those powers were, therefore, to be 
lulled into inaction by the hope of his forbear- 
ance,— upon which they have always ap- 
peared more to rely, than upon their means 
of defence. 



I have always been of opinion, that the de- 
struction of Prussia was a sure presage of the 
hostilities meditated against both Austria and* 




53 



Russia. Prussia stood in the centre of the 
North. No balance could be preserved in 
that quarter without such an intermediate 
power. She was a barrier on all sides against 
violent usurpation, and in the meridian of her 
strength, was the bulwark of the west of Eu- 
rope. She protected France from any ambi- 
tious designs which Russia might have for- 
med, — and served as a constant check upon 
Austria. It was the uniform policy of the 
court of Versailles, guided by this view of 
things, to sustain her cause and to court her 
alliance, as a fundamental security against 
any inordinate increase of strength on the 
part of their formidable neighbour,* Their 

# See particularly on this head, a Memoire of M. de 
Vergennes, contained in the 2d vol. of the Politique de tous 
les Cabinets, dated March, one thousand seven hundred and 
eighty four — "S'il falloit opter," says this statesman, if en* 
u tre la conversation de la maison des Bourbons en Italie, 
u et celle de la puissance Prussienne en Allemagne, il n'y 
u auroit pas a hesiter entre Fabandon des premiers et le 
" maintien de l'autre, quoique le royaume de Naples, dari#> 
u les mains de Tempereur, lui donneroit des avantage* d^ 
" de plus d'un genre, &c/ f 






54 



successors were well acquainted with tills 
whole scheme of relations, apd would have 
adhered to it, if it had been their intention to 
tolerate any equipoise or independence in the 
North. But other views required an opposite 
course of proceeding. While Prussia remained 
entire, Russia and Austria could not have been 
easily brought under the yoke; and on the 
other hand, it may, I think, be easily seen, 
that Prussia would not have been destroyed, 
if the fall of the other powers had not been 
contemplated as an event of no distant occur- 
rence. 

It is true, that there were motives, scarcely 
less urgent than those springing out of the 
general plan of conquest, to precipitate the 
attack an Prussia. Gentz, who is placed at 
the head of the political writers of the con- 
tinent, has declared, in his answer to d*Hau- 
terive, that nothing but the union of Austria 
and Prussia could arrest the career of France, 
and save the other states of Europe.* The 
French government was well aware of thi& 

* See State of Europe, p. 24*. 



55 



reasoning— and the cabinets of Berlin and 
Vienna began to see the necessity of an ap- 
proximation. France then felt the expedi- 
ency of dealing an immediate blow, in order 
to dissipate the strength of Prussia, before 
Austria, after her recent disasters, could col- 
lect the means or summon up the resolution to 
co-operate in a plan of mutual defence, which 
the course of events pointed out as the only 
available resource for both nations. It is also 
true, that when Bonaparte compelled Prussia 
to engage in the war which terminated in 
her utter ruin, the power of France had in- 
creased, and that of Austria had dwindled in 
such a degree, that a counterpoise was no lon- 
ger wanting to the influence or pretentions of 
the latter. But whatever may be the supe- 
riority of strength with which France is en- 
dued, her subtle and ambitious ruler would 
never have removed Prussia, — the principal 
obstacle to the creation of an overruling; in- 
fluence in the North, — nor would he have 
occupied, at such a distance from the seat of 
his empire, the doubtful allegiance of West- 
phalia, if he had not meditated an early at- 
tempt upon the neighbouring powers. Thest 



56 



measures, which, on this supposition, tended 
to facilitate their destruction, would have re- 
dounded to his prejudice, if this sequel bad 
not been projected. To have left Austria and 
Russia at peace for a length of time sufficient 
to heal their wounds, with the scope for am- 
bitious designs, and the means of aggrandize- 
ment which the extinction of Prussia afforded 
them, — would have endangered the power of 
France more than any merely possible union 
between the courts of Berlin and Vienna.* 

The growing power of Russia kindled, even 
before the revolution, an incurable jealousy in 
the cabinet, and among the speculative poli- 
ticians of France, The close connexion of 
the former with England, — the exclusion of 
France from all share in the negociations 
with the Divan, — the contest for influence 
between the two powers at the courts of Stock- 
holm and Warsaw, — served to inflame this 
jealousy, and to produce the most hostile 
feelings on the side of France. To estrange 

• Genta is of opinion that such a union was not possible, 
p. 241 3 State of Europe, 



57 



the house of Lorraine from Russia-— 
* to throw back the latter into her vast 
deserts" — to exclude her altogether from an 
interference in the affairs of Europe, was the 
favourite system of the statesmen of the old 
regime ;* and it will be found, upon reflection, 
that their successors can scarcely be animated 
by more favourable dispositions. So much 
stress is usually placed on the strength of 
Russia as a counterpoise to the power of 
France, that I shall beg leave to add a few re- 
marks on this subject. 

* <( On ne peut pas disconvenir que le systeme general 
de politique dont M. le Prince de Conti filt Tauteur, n'eut 
ete fait conformement aux veritables principes, et selon 
les interets de la France. II consistent a garder en Europe 
fequilibre etabli par les trartes de Westphalie — a Her, par 
un autre traite perpetuel, la Turquie, la Pologne, la Suede 
etlaPrusse, sous la mediation et ensuite avec Paccession de 
la France ; et enrln a separer par ce moyen la maison 
d'Autricke avec la Russie, en rejettant cette derniere dans 
ses vastes deserts, et la releguant, pour ainsi dire, hors des 
iimites de l' Europe" — u Memoire du compte de Broglie — 
Politique de tous les Cabinets." — See also another memoire 
from the same, dated sixteenth of February, one thousand 
seven hundred and seventy five. — Politique de tous les Cabi- 
nets. 

H 



5S 



All my inquiries, during my residence 
abroad, concerning the true character and 
amount of the Russian means of warfare, led 
me to the conclusion that they are generally 
much overrated. Her maritime resources can 
be but of little service in her struggles with 
France — and, in fact, are scarcely sufficient 
to give her any reputation for strength on the 
ocean. A nation possessing no distant colo- 
nies, labouring under a scarcity of good sai- 
lors, without considerable fisheries, and with 
no extent of coast to familiarize the natives ' 
to the dangers of the ocean, cannot easily 
create a navy, calculated to render her formi- 
dable to the great maritime states of Europe. 
The rapid advances of Russia since the reign 
of Peter the Great, her victories over the 
Turks, owing, however, to the ignorance 
and pusillanimity of the Ottoman generals, 
and to the insubordination of their troops; 
her gigantic projects of ambition, and the 
vast compass of her territory, (in reality, a 
source of weakness,) have dazzled the eyes 
of mankind, and produced most extravagant 



59 



hyperboles with regard to her military and pe- 
cuniary resources. 

Upon these resources alone she must rely in 
her competition with France; and I am well 
convinced that they will prove insufficient for 
her rescue. I have read, with some atten- 
tion, the opinions of those who wrote upon 
the state of her finances and the character of 
her levies before the French revolution ; and 
when I consider the difficulties which the 
Russian government had to overcome with 
regard to both, I am quite astonished at the 
efforts it then made, although I believe them 
to be greatly exaggerated.* Catherine la- 
boured to spread an illusion on this subject, 
by the boldness and splendor of her under- 
takings ; but they seldom required more than 
one or two campaigns ; and with all the aids 
of absolute power, she was unable to collect 

* See on the subject of the resources of Russia " Poli- 
tique de tous les Cabinets — Conjectures Raisonnees de Fa- 
▼ier, Art. cinq de la Russie'' — also u Coxe's Travels in the 
North,'' those of " Professor Pallas in Russia"— Tooke's 
History," &c. 



60 



a revenue equal to that of the secondary order 
of states in Europe. Her armies were drawn 
from the interior of the empire, and formed 
by means of slow and operose levies. In 
weakening the inland population, they exert- 
ed a most pernicious influence over the general 
prosperity of a country, which, of all others 
most imperiously exacts the strictest econo- 
my of the blood, and the steadiest applica- 
tion of the agricultural labour, of its inhabi- 
tants. The military strength of Russia was 
impaired by the frequency of seditions among 
the soldiery, of court conspiracies^ and of 
popular commotions ; evils to which the Rus- 
sian government is still exposed, and which 
must always impede the execution of any re-* 
gular plan of warfare ft 

The natural progress of her strength, the 
extension of her commerce, the diffusion 
of the arts of civilized life, and an improved 
system of internal administration within the 
last thirty years, have undoubtedly placed 
Jier under more favorable circumstances, and 
greatly augmented her resources. Rut whea 



61 



contrasted with those of France there is still 
an irremediable deficiency. Her financial 
means bear no proportion in the comparison. 
Independently of the positive fact, her infe- 
riority, in this respect, might be understood 
from a calculation admitted by most writers 
on political arithmetic : that a thousand in- 
habitants, collected within a square league, 
will, when compared with five hundred, 
spread over the same surface, sustain much 
more than double the amount of taxes, and 
cost much less trouble and expence in the 
collection of them. The product of private 
industry and of national revenue, with no 
difference even of soil or climate, is> within 
a given space, uniformly in a ratio^ much 
greater than that of the population. I state 
this principle, however, chiefly with a view 
to illustrate the difficulties to which Russia 
must be subject in relation to the concerns of 
her treasury. The amount of her revenue is 
but of little importance in an investigation of 
her ability to cope with France. The impos- 
sibility, under which she labours, of repairing 
with promptitude any seyere losses of men^ 



62 



her want of good officers, and the defects of 
her military organization, are the most dis- 
couraging points of comparison. 

War, as waged by her enemy, is not now 
principally a question of finance, but of the 
resources of population. The strength of a 
state opposed to France, must be estimated by 
the sum of its population, divided by the 
extent of its territory, and by the facility 
with which its institutions enable the govern- 
ment to wield that population. The first 
branch of this estimate is so far correct, that 
many writers compute, that a population of 
six millions, concentrated within a smaU 
space, is equal to one of twenty-four, diffused 
over a large surface- It is eminently true as 
it relates to the military operations of a coun- 
try, waging a defensive war. Whoever re- 
flects on the sparse character of the Russian 
population, and considers that the Russian 
government is under the necessity of main- 
taining a standing army at home, in order to 
preserve domestic tranquillity, will easily 
understand the application of the foregoing 
remarks, and must be satisfied that, although 



63 



England might furnish pecuniary supplies, 
Russia, after a few severe defeats, would be 
deficient in the number of her troops. 

The distance of Russia will not serve to 
protect her, when the intermediate powers 
are subdued. France will then press upon 
her frontier, with all the accession of num- 
bers, of treasure, and of influence, which she 
must derive from an unlimited sway over the 
adjacent territories. The acquisition of Fin- 
land, of Gallicia, or of whatever portion of 
Turkey may be now promised, to gratify 
the blind ambition of Alexander, will be no 
addition to his strength, and will only con- 
duce, by enlarging his boundaries, to mul- 
tiply his embarrassments, when the Swedes, 
the Poles, the Turks, the Persians, and the 
Chinese, who border on his immense empire, 
will be all set in motion to second the attack 
of his implacable enemy. During the last 
struggle of Russia, it was certainly in the 
contemplation of Bonaparte to erect a king- 
dom of Poland, under his immediate influence, 
in order to promote his designs on the north 



64 



Murat, now monarch of Naples, was to have 
wielded the new sceptre. In the evening of 
the day on which the victory of Friedland 
was announced at Paris, the princess Murat, 
at a numerous assembly held in her palace, 
was saluted queen of Poland by the public 
functionaries present. The reluctance of the 
Poles, and the acquiescence of Alexander in 
the creation of the kingdom of Westphalia, 
prevented the accomplishment of this plan. 
It is rather curious that a similar one was 
formed by the French cabinet in 1745. A 
deputation of Polish noblemen was sent from 
Warsaw at that period, to tender to the prince 
of Conti the wishes of the country, for his 
eventual election to the crown.* 

The hasty submissions of Alexander at 
Tilsit, and all the events of the war which 
terminated in the ignominious peace of that 
name, tend to confirm the ideas I have sug- 
gested in the last page. The representations 
of the British officers who accompanied the 

* Politique de tous les Cabinets — Lettre du compte de 
Broglie k Louis XVI. torn. 1. 



05 



Russian armies, particularly of Lord Hutche- 
son, go to prove that the Russians were, at 
no time, in a condition to contend success- 
fully with the French force. They wanted 
numbers, officers, a spirit of union in the 
generals, and a well-regulated commissariat— 
a department in which they are miserably de- 
ficient. So wretched was the preparation for 
this sanguinary struggle, that the Russian 
troops, on their own borders, suffered more 
than their assailants from the inclemency of 
the season and the scarcity of provisions. 
The most sagacious and experienced of the 
officers whom I have cited, saw from the be- 
ginning no chance of success but in the ca- 
sualties of fortune, the unassisted skill of Ben- 
ningsen, and the courageous, hardy, obedi- 
ent persevering character of the Russian sol- 
diery. They never saw grounds for a belief, 
that the resources of the Russian government 
would enable it to withstand the shock of 
more than one severe campaign. 

The divisions in the Russian cabinet, and 
the preponderance of a French faction at St. 

I 



66 



Petersburg, which now sways the national 
councils, constitute another and great source 
of weakness. The French partisans have 
subdued the spirit of Alexander, by an expo- 
sition of the impotency of his means, and 
debauched his principles, by specious state- 
ments of the benefits he is to derive from 
French alliance. It was asserted by the pre- 
sent opposition in England, that the estrange^ 
ment of the Russian monarch from British 
politics, was owing to the horror which he 
had conceived at the expedition against Co* 
penhagen. But the testimony of Lord Leve- 
son Gower proved, undeniably, that the 
rupture was decided upon previous to that 
event ; and was induced by the terror which 
the French arms had inspired, and the cor- 
rupt expectations with which Bonaparte had 
pampered the imagination of Alexander. The 
iniquitous war which the latter has waged 
since that period against Sweden, and his co- 
operation with Bonaparte in the late at- 
tack upon Austria, furnish strong evidence 
of a conscience by no means so scrupulous 
as the hypothesis of the opposition would 
imply. 



67 



You may easily infer, my dear sir, from 
the opinions which I have thus ventured to 
suhmit to you, that 1 cherish no hopes for 
the safety of the continent. I cannot consent 
to reason from loose probabilities and remote 
contingencies, and I see no other foundation 
upon which hope can rest My conclusions 
are drawn from a view of the fundamental 
means and permanent relations of France, 
and not from a consideration of the character 
of her ruler.* Gents, in his <f Fragment on 
the Balance of Power," enumerates three 
traits in the present constitution of France, 
which, according to his idea, must render 
her irresistible : — 1st. The unlimited form of 
her government. — 2d. The decisive influence 
of the military character over the whole sys- 
tem. — And, 3d. the occasional and success- 
ful employment of revolutionary instruments 
and means. Add to these the federal strength 
which she has acquired by the extension of 
her limits ; the torpor which seizes almost 
every nation even at the name of France ; 

* See Gentz, State of Europe, p. 232. 



68 



the subtilty of her statesmen ; and the skill 
of her commanders ; and it will be at once 
apparent that she may bid defiance to the 
united efforts of Europe, if by any possibility 
they could be united. 

The elements of union, however, are irre- 
coverably gone. By the destruction of Prus- 
sia, and the recent disasters of Austria, the 
North is broken into too many fragments, 
ever to be again consolidated. It is not Rus- 
sia, such as I have described her, that can 
breathe a vivyfying and elastic spirit into this 
disjointed mass. She stands alone in the 
midst of ruins, with all the ramparts over- 
thrown which ministered to her own security. 
Holland can never be what she was. — Swit- 
zerland, that remained free, by a kind of 
prescription, under the old system, is now 
but " an entrenched camp" of France, and 
must, from her geographical position, con- 
tinue enslaved. — Germany is open on all sides. 
The French armies march at once, and with- 
out impediment, into the heart of the German 
dominions. The cession of the Rhine districts 



69 



to the masters of Flanders, of Holland, of 
Switzerland, and of the Tyrol, left, thence- 
forward, no chance of safety for Austria, or 
of independence for the north of Europe. 
The Archduke Charles may fight a successful 
battle, but the fate of his unhappy country 
will depend, not on the issue of a single en- 
counter, or of a single campaign : it hangs 
upon the competency of the Austrian power 
to withstand the whole weight of the resources 
of the French empire. Under this point of 
view, her affairs never appeared to me other 
than desperate from the commencement of 
her last struggle.* 

* It is impossible to contemplate the final dissolution 
of Austria without lively emotion: — dashed, as she is, 
from off her w wide ambitious base/' on which she had 
stood firm and respected for so many centuries, by an 
enemy more relentless than those " sons of spoil/' who, 
to use the language of the poet Collins, broke into a thous- 
and fragments the " Giant Statue'' of Rome. No empire 
which has as, yet sunk under the blows of France, has 
fallen with a sound so ominous and fearful for Europe, 
And when we consider the power and security of the A us. 
frrian monarchy but a few years ago, the world has never, 



70 



This mode of reasoning leads me also to 
despair of the success of the Spanish contest. 
The subjugation of Spain was not rashly re- 
solved, nor will it be irresolutely executed. 
Austria will be too much crippled to suspend 
a second time the progress of the invader. 
There is no politician so sanguine as to ima- 
gine that the English alone will wrest the 
prey from his talons, unless they can infuse 
into the Spaniards another spirit, and call 
forth other energies, than those which have 
been hitherto displayed. Could the contest 
be protracted for any length of time, there 
would arise, perhaps, some great leader* to 
unite, organize, and direct the means of the 
country, — whose " strong divinity of soul" 
might restore the fortunes of his nation, and 

perhaps, been presented with a more awful lesson on what 
Mr. Bjirke denominates " the tremendous instability of 
huma^grandeur. ,> 

Eheu ! quam brevibus pereunt ingentia fatis ! 
Imperium tanto qusesitum sanguine, tanto 
Servatum, quod mille ducum peperere labores. 

Proditor unus, angusto tempore vertit. 

Cl audi an, InRuf. cap. 5. 



71 



a venae the fall of those who now shed their 
blood in its defence. 

Exoriare aliquis nostris ex ossibus ultor. 

But, when we consider the character of the 
enemy, this hope vanishes, together with the 
whole train of visionary encouragements, 
which the field of conjecture will always fur- 
nish to those who vehemently desire the ac- 
complishment of a particular end. 

Should the life of the invader be suddenly 
destroyed, the fate which he now meditates 
for Spain might be averted ; but she would 
soon relapse into the same species of vassal- 
age to France, under which she has hitherto 
groaned. This event might, indeed, plunge 
France herself into a civil war, but would 
not, according to my view of the basis of her 
power, alter the destinies of the continent 
A civil war would employ but a portion of 
the French force ; and as far as my observa- 
tion, when at Paris, enables me to judge, 
would not endure long enough to afford time 



72 



tor the formation of a general and efficacious 
league without The struggle would tei*mi- 
minate in the establishment of a military chief, 
with the same views as the present, and 
armed with equal power over a people, whose 
military propensities, whose licentious habits, 
and whose servile spirit, would only be height- 
ened by the state of disorder and insubordi- 
nation into which they would be thrown. 
They would become, if possible, still more 
formidable to Europe than they are at this 
moment. During the domestic contentions 
of Rome, and the civil wars of Italy, the bu- 
siness of conquest was pursued with more ra- 
pid success, than at any other period of their 
history. There is a passage in the Grandeur 
et Decadence* of Montesquieu, in reference 
to this subject, which I shall quote as the 
best illustration of my opinions : — " It should 
u be remarked," says he, " that during the 
" civil wars, which lasted for so long a time, 
the foreign influence of Rome was con- 
stantly ©n the increase. Under Marius, 

* Chap. XL 






73 



" Sylla, Pompey, Caesar, Anthony, and Au- 
cc gustus, Rome, become more terrible every 
" day, consummated the ruin of the surviving 
" kings. There is no state which so seriously 
r| menaces the world with conquest, as one 
u which is afflicted with the miseries of civil 
" war. Every man, the noble, the citizen, the 
" artificer, the labourer, becomes a soldier, and 
** when peace unites their strength, such a state 
" possesses great advantages over the rest who 
" have citizens alone. In civil wars, moreover, 
" great men are formed ; because in times 
" of confusion, those who possess merit make 
" their way and rise to their proper level ; 
" whereas in other periods, the subordination 
" which must exist, counteracts they buoy- 
€i ancy of superior minds. Let us pass from 
" the example of the Romans to more recent 
" instances. The French were never so for- 
" midable without, as after the quarrels of the 
" houses of Burgundy and of Orleans ; after 
u the troubles of the League ; after the civil 
" wars of the minority of Louis XIIL and of 
" that of Louis XIV, England was never so 
" much respected as under Cromwell, after 

K 



74 



ic the civil wars of the long parliament. The 
" Gerrvans never acquired a full superiority 
u over the Turks, but after their civil wars. 
" The Spaniards under Philip the Fifth, after 
u the civil wars of the succession, manifested 
" a vigour in Sicily, which astonished all 
" Europe — and we see Persia, at this mo- 
" ment, rise from the ashes of a civil war, 
c< and humble the Turks/' 



At the accession of Bonaparte to the go- 
vernment of France, that country exhibited 
in its interior a picture of misery and ruin, 
which had scarcely any parallel in the history 
of the world. To be satisfied of the truth of 
this position, we need only refer to the re- 
ports of the prefects, and to the discourses 
of the public functionaries, which have since 
been published under the authority of the new 
government itself. The tempest of the revo- 
lution had swept away all those artificial insti- 
tutions and branches of domestic economy, 
which experience has shown to be alone sub- 



75 



stantially nutritive to a state, and conducive 
to the best interests of man, both in his so- 
cial and political relations. The present ruler 
inherited from his predecessors no other re- 
sources, organized into a system, or suscepti- 
ble of ready application, than those which 
have since enabled him to roll the tide of 
calamity over the countries of the continent, 
without healing the miseries of his own The 
only efficacious remedy for the wounds of 
France, was peace. It was alone calculated 
to produce a new system of morals and man- 
ners, and to establish the only true basis of 
public and private prosperity, — an industrious 
population, enjoying an easy subsistence. 

Much is said about the progress of the new 
rulers in the promotion of these objects, not- 
withstanding the extensive and sanguinary 
wars in which they have been constantly en- 
gaged. You, my dear sir, who are so pro- 
foundly versed in matters of legislation, 
would not even after the most positive testi- 
mony in the affirmative, readily conceive, 
how a government, occupied with schemes 



76 



of foreign conquest and personal aggrandize- 
ment, could have succeeded, within a very 
few years, in removing even common disor- 
ders of internal administration, in a country 
of so vast an extent as France. You will not 
therefore easily credit what is so often as- 
serted, — that she has been raised from the 
profoundest depths of all possible wretched- 
ness to a condition not only superior to her 
former lot under the Bourbons, but better 
than that of any other state of Europe. Or 
all the irregular phenomena recorded in his- 
tory, this would be the most wonderful. The 
reflection of a moment must serve to convince 
you, that the assertion is entitled to no cre- 
dit whatever. But as the mistakes of the 
public are not so easily corrected, and on this 
subject lead to others of greater importance, 
I propose to indulge in some details relative 
to the internal state of the empire, as it fell 
under my observation less than two years 
ago. My statement will conduct to very 
opposite conclusions. Despotism has worn 
the same aspect whenever and wherever it 
has appeared. 



7T 



Those who are in the habit of declaiming 
on the comparative beatitude of France under 
the new dynasty, lay much stress on fancied 
mitigations and improvements in the system 
of finance. It is to this branch of their do- 
mestic economy that I mean to solicit your 
attention particularly. 1 have touched in a 
former page on the relation which subsists 
between the military character and the finan- 
cial resources of the French government. The 
present inquiry will serve to illustrate that 
topic, and cannot be without some general 
interest. 

The disorders of the revenue constituted a 
principal theme of invective, with the dema- 
gogues who subverted the old government. 
A deficit, by no means considerable, was in- 
cessantly represented as an evil from which 
no relief could be obtained, but in a new 
order of things. The ministers of Louis the 
sixteenth applied themselves, with assiduity 
and skill, to the reformation of this depart- 
ment; and if suffered to prosecute their la- 
bours, would have left no rational ground of 



T§ 



complaint to the nation. For the truth of 
this assertion, I appeal to the invaluable work 
of Neeker on the finances, whose statements 
I shall have occasion to compare with those 
of the present administration of France. 
Much was done by the Constituent Assembly 
in abolishing the most obnoxious branches, 
and in purifying the remaining sources of the 
revenue. During the revolution, there never 
existed even the shadow of a regular system, 
notwithstanding all that was said and written 
on this subject. For a period of six years, 
the receipts of the treasury amounted annu- 
ally, according to Ramel, only to fifteen mil- 
lions sterling. The same writer emphatically 
states, that he does not dare to calculate how 
much was expended. The revolutionary go- 
vernment* supported themselves and the ar- 
mies, not merely, like chevaliers d'industrie, 
by trick and fraud, — but like highwaymen, 
by open violence and robbery. No subject 
presents more curious and astonishing details, 
than the history of the expedients and sacri- 
fices by which the pecuniary wants of the 
republic were supplied, and of the deplor- 



79 



able confusion and distress which they occa- 
sioned.* Their influence over the public 
morals was scarcely less disastrous than their 
operation upon the sources of private and 
public wealth. 

On the establishment of the consular go- 
vernment, the restoration of order to the 
finances, and an alleviation of the public bur- 
dens, were declared to be among the most 
immediate objects of its solicitude. A sys- 
tem soon arose under its auspices, — invested 
with every possible solemnity of form/ and 
ushered in with the utmost liberality of pro- 
mise. While the new rulers ostentatiously 
announced, — what they knew could not be 
fulfilled, — the reduction of the public ex- 
penses for the first year, — they were careful 
to shake off the only restraint which re- 
mained upon the executive, in the manage- 
ment of the revenue. The legislative bodies 
had previously exacted from the heads of 
departments, a statement of their probable 
expenditure during the year, — and after mak- 

* I refer the reader on this subject to Ramel— " His* 
des Fin. de la Republique." 



80 



ing the amount given in, the subject of pub- 
lic discussion,* they themselves appropriated 
the sums, which they thought necessary for 
each. After some serious opposition from 
the members of the tribunate, the executive 
wrested this prerogative from them, and 
caused the whole mass of the public treasure 
to be placed entirely at its own disposal. f 

* '* In the progress of despotism," says Dr. Smith, u the 
a authority of the executive power gradually absorbs that 
u of every other power in the state, and assumes to itself the 
u management of every branch of revenue, which is des- 
*l tined for any public purpose." 

(Wealth of Nat. b. 5. c. 1.) 

f " The right of imposing taxes," says Sir James Steuart 5 
a appears no where almost to have been essentially attached 
€i to royalty- This right I take to be the least equivocal 
<c characteristic of an absolute and unlimited power. I 
" know of no Christian monarchy (except, perhaps, Rus- 
u sia) where either the consent of the states, or the appro- 
< c bation and concurrence of some political body within the 
" state, has not been requisite to make the imposition of 
" taxes constitutional." (Pol. Econ. b. 11. c. 23.) See 
Nt cker, Admin, des Fin. ch. 2, for some very able reflec- 
tions on the utility of public discussion with regard to taxes; 
and the just compliments which he pays to the British na- 
tion on that and almost every other topic, connected with 
their financial system. 



81 

In order, however, to soften this usurpation, 
the minister of finance was instructed to exhi- 
bit annually a budget, like that of the English 
ministry,, with a distinct specification of the re- 
ceipts and disbursements. This mummery is 
still continued, and is regularly accompanied by 
the most glowing pictures of past and future 
improvements j upon which no reliance what- 
ever is placed, by any well informed member 
of the community. To preserve appearances, 
however, they have been compelled to double 
the ostensible amount of the receipts, which 
they originally declared to be adequate to all 
the necessities of the state. The people are de- 
prived of all means of knowing the real amount 
either of the receipts or disbursements, — as no 
public scrutiny is suffered. You may thus at 
once conjecture, what must be, with regard to 
taxation, the state of a country, where a mili- 
tary executive enjoys an unlimited control over 
the estimate, the collection, and the expendi- 
ture, of the revenue, — where there exists no 
public organ for complaint or remonstrance, — 
no voice or influence of public opinion, — no 

L 



82 

idea of distributive justice, — and no protection 
for the citizen, against the usurpations of exe- 
cutive authority, 

Montesquieu has remarked, that under a des- 
potic government, the branches of revenue can- 
not be numerous, on account of the violence 
and injustice of which such a government is 
necessarily productive.* He adds, that they 
must also be plain and simple; because the laws 
on this subject, if numerous, would be violated 
by power; and, if ambiguous, perverted by sub- 
tlety, in such a degree, as to embitter, beyond 
all endurance* the miseries of the contributors, 
by placing their fortunes at the mercy of the 
collectors. He refers, in this instance*-— as well 
v as.in most others, wherein he speaks of the pro- 
perties of despotic governments,— to such as 
those of Turkey and China ; and not to a mili- 
tary rule, like that which now governs France. 
Had he lived in our time* he would have 
seen* in the case of his own unhappy country- 

* Usprit des Loii,lm *iin fck xfo 



S3 

men, by whom the spirit of his immortal work 
has been most shamefully dishonoured, a com- 
bination of evils, which he scarcely believed 
possible. He would have acknowledged, that 
even what he calls extreme servitude, may be 
augmented; — and that a people may be subject 
ed at once to the double oppression of military 
and fiscal tyranny. He would have seen the art 
of oppressing a people by schemes of taxation, 
Van de travailler fcs jieufiles en finance^ carried 
to the utmost pitch of perfection, under a mili- 
tary despotism. 

I have carefully collated the list of objects 
taxed in England, particularly those which fall 
under the excise, with the catalogue of France j 
and have found, that the French government 
has omitted none, which, by any possibility, 
could be rendered productive. In England, they 
have studiously avoided the imposition of such 
ta^es as might clog the industry, or trench too 
la? upon the necessities, of the people. In 
France, these considerations appear to have had 



84 

no weight ; while at the same time, the propor- 
tions observed in England, for the alleviation 
of the lower classes, are there wholly disre- 
garded** No comparison can be instituted, as 
to the moderation and lenity, with which the 
numerous and complicated taxes of both coun- 
tries are levied. 

I shall now proceed to examine — 1st, The 
principal sources of the actual revenue of 
France; 2d, The system established for the 
administration and collection of that revenue ; 
3d, The amount of the receipts and disburse- 
ments* 

* The income tax in England does not fall upon those 
whose incomes are less than fifty pounds sterling, per 
annum. From that sum, up to two hundred pounds ster- 
ling, there is a progressive or ascending scale of percent- 
age — similar to that of Athens. For the articles apprais- 
ed in France, in order to ascertain the amount of private 
revenue, I refer to a curious body of instructions, issued 
to the appraisers and collectors in the year eighteen hun- 
dred and two, by the minister of finance, and contained 
in his report for that year, 



85 

The French rulers have adopted the usual 
distinction of direct and indirect taxes; — a dis- 
tinction of some importance in the formation 
of a budget and in the regulation of financial 
accounts, Under the head of direct taxes, they 
comprise — the land tax, — the impost upon mov- 
ables, divided into the personal, mobiliary, and 
sumptuary tax, — the tax on doors and windows 
— and on the wages of industry, entitled le droit 
des fiatentes Under the denomination of tndu 
red taxes they include — the stamp duties and 
those on registration and on legal proceedings, 
the customs, — the excise, — andallthe numerous 
branches of casual revenue, which must exist 
in so extensive an empire. The direct taxes 
are estimated at the commencement of the year; 
and a specific sum is allotted from this fund* 
by the legislative bodies, at the suggestion of 
the executive. The nature of the indirect taxes 
precludes an anticipated valuation. The ma- 
nagement of them is committed to various ad* 
ministrations, styled u the Administrations of 
the Customs, the Post-office, &c." and ac- 
countable to the minister of finance. The 



86 

direct Uxes fall under his immediate supervi* 
$ion. 

The latter are assessed upon the empire ae- 
eording to tables of distribution, whieh are 
annexed to the law specifying their amount. 
These tables are constructed from a view of 
the population,— the territorial extent,-— and 
the supposed wealth of each department. The 
prefects and the general councils allot a quota 
to each district within their jurisdiction,^-the 
sub-prefects to each arrondissement>^-&n<l the 
mayors, of whom there is one for each cam- 
mime or sub-division, apportion their contin- 
gent among the inhabitants of the commune. 
The name of each individual inhabitant, and 
an estimate of his property, are inscribed upon 
a list, which, together with the general allot- 
ments, forms what is denominated the cadastre 
-«ror revenue roll. The general government, 
in determining the contingents of the depart- 
ments, is supposed to be guided by the amount 
of taxes which each paid to the old govern*- 
tnent j^by the reports of the prefects, rdath* 



87 

to the ability and dispositions of the territories 
within their jurisdiction ; — and by general cal* 
dilations, with regard to the sources of public 
wealth. The subordinate allotments are sup* 
posed to depend on similar considerations,— 
of a character less vague indeed, — but more 
arbitrary, and more open to the influence of 
partiality and to obscure vexations. 

The " contribution fontien" or land tax, 
which has superseded the former iaille and 
wtogtiemes, must be understood not only in ita 
usual acceptation, but as a charge on income* 
The maximum at which it is fi&ed by law- — is 
one fifth of the net income of the subject, 
upon a general estimate of the whole product 
of the French territory. Untenanted mansions 
are exempted from contribution, in conse* 
^juence of the double character which this ta& 
assumes*— The personal contribution embraces 
every article which falls within the list of the 
assessed taxes in England —and which the 
epithet can imply. Horses, dogs, servants, veM* 
cles, utemifc, the rent of dwellings^ stock $f 



88 

every description , &c. — are all included in one 
or other of three branches* — the personal, 
mobiliary, and sumptuary taxes, which I have 
mentioned above. An impost on gateways, 
chimneys, &c. is added to that on doors and 
windows. The charges on these articles are 
all of the heaviest kind. 

Under the old government a tax was paid 
for the privilege of exercising trades and pro- 
fessions, and upon the emoluments and trans- 
fers of public offices. This tax, which bore the 
names of maitrise^ jara?ides, and droit de marc 
d*or, was abolished by the Convention, but 
revived by the Legislative Body, — and is still 
continued under the denomination of droit de 
patentes. The municipal officers now prepare 
for the government, lists of those, who exer- 
cise within the sphere of their jurisdiction, any 
trade or profession, or are engaged in the lu- 
crative pursuits of industry. The tax which the 
latter are called upon to pay is either 'fixed by £ 
tariff or levied at the rate of one tenth of the 
rent of the houses, shops, &c. which they oc* 



< 89 

cupy*. The trades and professions are divi- 
ded into classes. Some of them, such as those 
of bankers, brokers, &c. pay a fixed impost. 
The contributions of the rest varies according 
to the population of the cities in which they 
reside. This droit des fiatentes, which unites the 
character of a capitation tax with that of an 
impost on the wages of industry, is one of the 
most important and productive branches of the 
revenue. Nearly eighteen hundred thousand 

* In 1789 certain duties were imposed in England on 
inhabited houses according to the rent paid for them, or 
shops in them. — The tax fell, as in France, upon the 
tenant and the shopkeeper. — The measure was thought 
so oppressive that it was soon repealed. — The comment 
of Sir John Sinclair, on this subject, is particularly strong 
— " This miserable instance," says he, " of ministerial 
" obstinacy and ignorance being at last repealed, with 
" the concurrence of the person who proposed it, it 
" seems unnecessary to dwell upon that want of principle 
" by which it was so preeminently distinguished. — To 
" think of assessing a tax, not according to the rent 
" which one receives, but to the rent that one must 
*■ pay, is the height of cruelty and injustice; or taxing, 
" as has been well observed, not the chance of profit, 
" but the certainty of loss, — namely, the perpetual and 
" unavoidable debt for a shop and house." (History of 
ihe Revenue, vgl. 2d, p. 152.) 

m * 



to 

heads of families are subject to it. The public 
functionaries paid by the treasury enjoy an ex- 
emption, — while it presses upon those, — the 
profits of whose personal industry are at all 
times precarious — and frequently insufficient 
for the support of their families. I" 

A thorough development of the operation 
of the direct taxes would require more space 
than the limits of this letter will allow. — I shall, 
however, indulge in a few remarks — in order 
to afford a clearer insight into this subject. 
The inherent evils of the income and personal 
taxes are aggravated by the most oppressive 
inequalities in the assessment. These inequali- 
ties are necessarily incident to the system. — 
For the distribution to be in any degree equi- 
^ble,— it is necessary not only that the general 
allotments for the departments, but that those 
of the prefects and the municipalities, — as well 
as their reports,— should be founded upon the 
most accurate and impartial calculation.- — The 

f See Sir James Steuart, b. 5. ch. 4. — with respect to 
the effects of such a tax as this on the wages of industry. 



91 

individual is not only at the mercy of his par- 
ticular assessor, but is exposed to suffer from 
the errors of his municipality,— pf the admini- 
stration of his department, and of the govern- 
ment at Paris. 

The data upon which the government pro- 
ceeds, in assessing the taxes upon the depart- 
ments,— are obviously erroneous. — What a de- 
partment may have paid to the old government 
furnishes no proof of its ability at this moment, 
on account of the total obstruction of many 
channels of wealth— and of the revolutions in 
the possession and value of property. — Under 
the old regime — the value of real property was 
estimated at twenty and twenty-five years' puK 
chase ; — at this time it is not more than twelve 
or fifteen in many departments. — This differ- 
ence is owing to a want of confidence in the 
stability of the government; — to the high 
rates of interest; — to the duties on registration 
and transfers;— arid to an apprehension of those 
violent expedients to which an arbitrary go- 



92 

x r ernment may have recourse, in order to re- 
lieve its necessities. 

The other basis — that of population — is 
equally insufficient to insure a just distribution. 
Montesquieu remarks — u that a numerous 
Cc population, is frequently one of the principal 
u causes why a government will demand but 
" light taxes ; — because the necessities of the 
" individual may leave but little for those of 
" the state." The general impoverishment 
produced by the revolution, and the inequality 
of its ravages, should make this the rule of the 
French government, — not only in the allot- 
ment of the quotas of the departments, — but 
in determining the amount of taxes for the 
whole empire. The superiority of the popula- 
tion of France over that of England, so far from 
alleviating the comparative burdens of the for- 
mer,- would only serve to aggravate them— 
even on the supposition that the resources and 
imposts of both countries were the same. I 
shall pursue this idea hereafter. 



93 

The system adopted for ascertaining the com- 
parative resources of the districts, is equally unsa- 
tisfactory. The personal interests of the munici- 
palities, — the ignorance of the assessors,— and 
the enmities which still survive the feuds of the 
revolution,— have given rise to the most gross 
and pernicious inaccuracies in their reports.* — 
In England the land-tax is assessed upon each 
district, and has therefore become unequal, ac- 
cording to the various degrees of improvement 
in different parts of the country; but the valua- 
tion by which the lands are rated is fixed and 

* The minister of France holds the following language 
on this subject—" I had provisionally occupied myself 
" in collecting information relative to the taxable pro- 
" perty of the departments, in order to propose some 
" improvements in the distribution, — if I could succeed 
" in obtaining information upon whi h reliance could be 

" placed. I must say that I have had occasion to remark 

11 the most obvious inaccuracy in almost all the details 
" which have been given me. This inaccuracy is such 
" that if I were to calculate from these details, the whole 
u territorial revenue of the republic, which , even before 
" our acquisition of territory had been uniformly valued^ 
u at 1200 millions of francs, would be now rated only at 
" 850 millions, although the territory has been augment. 
" ed in the proportion of one fifth," &c— Budget 1804, 



9* 

has redounded greatly to the advantage of the 
landlord.* — The fluctuating annual valuation 
which takes place in France is productive of 
the worst consequences to the subject. — The 
proprietor can never improve his estate without 
apprehending a correspondent increase of taxes, 
and as the quota of the district must be dis- 
charged, those who do improve, pay, not only 
in proportion to the increased value of their 
own estates, but to the diminution which may 
occur in the incomes of others. — When the 
sums collected fall short of the contingent pre- 
scribed by the government, the deficiency is 
supplied by second and third distributions. 

This variable land-tax united to the imposts 
on every species of income, and every emolu- 

* See on the subject of a variable land-tax, — Dr. 
Smith, b. 5. ch. 11. Wealth of Nat. and a copious dis- 
sertation on the difference between the French and 
English land-tax in the year 1770 3 — in Sir J. Steuart's 
Political Economy, b. 5. ch. 11. — Both these writers- 
have discussed with their wonted ability, and in great de- 
tail* the French system of taxation at the periods at 
which they wrote. Their discussions serve materially 
lo elucidate the present system. 



95 

pient of industry — and on stock of every de- 
scription,— gives rise annually to a most mi- 
nute and vexatious scrutiny into the fortunes 
*n.d-gfUi>s of individuals/* This scrutiny places 
them altogether at the mercy of the multitude 
of revenue officers, whose tyrannical practices 
are overlooked from political views. These 
abuses greatly enhance the evils resulting from 
the original inequality in the assessment, and 
have wrung from the individuals and general 
councils, an tininterrupted succession of bitter 
Temonstrances and complaints which the govern- 
ment has been compelled to notice. To sup- 
port the assertions which a diligent perusal of 
these remonstrances and my own inquiries 

* Dr. Smith is of opinion, " that an inquisition into 
" .every man's private affairs, and an inquisition -which, 
u in order to accommodate the tax to them, watched over 
" all the fluctuations of his fortune, would be a source of 
" -;spch continual and endless vexation as no people could 
" supports W. of Ns|t-b. 5. c. 2. p. 111. The French 
people have, however, learned to bear much more. I re- 
fer also on this subject to some judicious observations of 
;Mr. Gallatin, in his c Sketch of the Finances of the Uni- 
ted States," p 165, 4k 



96 

while in France — entitle me to make, I shall 
quote the language of the minister of finance 
in a report addressed to the Emperor on this 
subject in one thousand eight hundred and se- 
ven. The tenor of all the public documents is 
the same. " The formation of the new registers," 
says the minister of finance u has led to the 
" discovery of the abuses of the former distri- 
u bution. While some proprietors paid in one 
" thousand eight hundred and six, the fourth, 
** the third, and eyen a moiety and more of their 
" incomes, others were taxed at the rate of 
" the one-twentieth, one-fiftieth, and one-hun- 
" dredth part only. These inequalities would 
cc have remained for ever unknown, if the pre- 
^ paration of the new lists had not enabled us 
" to discover them. In effect, — what a perni- 
" cious influence has not this bad distribution 
" over the existence of families. The evil is less 
" felt in the great cities, where individuals are 
" generally more at their ease — but let a person 
" go into the country and then say, w r hether it 
" is a matter of indifference to the father of a 
*** family, enjoying for instance an income of 



97 

•? one thousand francs, to be taxed at the rate 
u of one half or even of one-eighth, or in any 
** such proportion of such an income," &c* 

The magnitude of these evils and the serious 
discontents resulting from them, rendered it in- 
dispensable for the government to attempt 
some plan of reformation. Two separate under- 
takings have been commenced for this pur- 
pose, — neither of which yields any promise of 
success or alleviation. One is a complete sur- 
vey of all the lands and taxable property of the 
empire, — the other — a partial operation of the 
same kind upon nineteen hundred communes or 
subdivisions of districts, selected by lot from 
various parts of the territory, — and destined to 
funish a criterion for determining the contin- 
gents of the remainder. The last was begun in 
one thousand eight hundred and four, but has 
not advanced very rapidly. In one thousand 
eight hundred and eight, not more than one 
hundred districts had been surveyed— and in 

* Budget, one thousand eight hundred ^nd seven, 



98 

them — the task was executed in the most slo- 
venly and inaccurate manner. 

It must be superfluous to femark that this 
plan, if completed, would be inadequate to the 
object. Its insufficiency will be best explained 
in the words of the minister of finance himself, 
who holds the following language to the Empe- 
ror on the subject, in his report of one thousand 
eight hundred and six, " But I ought to re- 
" mark to you, sire, that all the prefects in their 
u reports to me on this head, concur in thinking 
" that the deductions from this 'system would 
" be too uncertain and hypothetical to afford 
u good grounds for a new distribution of the 
" public burdens, and would lead to well 
" founded complaints from every department, 
" whose contingent might be raised in conse- 
cc quence of it. How, indeed, can we flatter our- 
u selves with the prospect of ascertaining from 
6C the valuation of one thousand nine hundred 
^ districts, the real revenue of the fifty thou* 
Cf sand others, which constitute the territory of 
w% - the empire. There can be no proof of the 



m 

u correctness of a calculation, founded on S3 
" loose an analogy. I cannot, therefore, but 
" coincide altogether with the prefects." 

This plan is, nevertheless, persisted in, at no 
inconsiderable expence for the country. The 
experience, however, of its insufficiency, and 
of the new mischiefs to which it gives rise, has 
induced the government to dwell particularly 
in their financial reports, on the complete re- 
lief which the general survey is to afford. This 
magnificent scheme, — like most of the other 
projects 01 internal reform, with which the 
French rulers labour to delude the credulity, 
and to appease the murmurs of their subjects, — 
has made but slow progress, and according to 
their own improbable statement, cannot be per* 
fected, nor rendered practically useful, until the 
year one thousand eight hundred and fifteen. 
Whoever considers the immense extent of the 
French territory, must at once perceive that no 
definite term can, with any degree of plausibi- 
lity, be assigned, for the accomplishment of an 
undertaking so laborious and expensive, as the 



100 

survey and valuation of the whole.* Since the 
year one thousand eight hundred and three, an 
additional million of dollars has been annually 
imposed upon the people, under the pretence 
of defraying the expences which have been 
already incurred. It is announced also that 
schools have been instituted in Paris, and in 
the departments, and courses of practical geo- 
metry opened, in order to form surveyors for 
the business of admeasurement. Much, un- 
doubtedly will be promised, and but little per* 
formed. While the French rulers continue to 
receive the amount of their demands on the 
people,— to establish an equitable assessment 
will be as remote from their inclination, as it is 
beyond their power in the midst of the soli- 
citudes and claims of an extensive war. The 
disorders which now prevail, are, in fact, con- 
sidered as useful, under various points of view. 
They gratify the cupidity and tyrannical spirit 
of the useful adherents of the government :— 

* Dr. Smith remarks that the project of a general sur- 
vey of France has been undertaken about once every cen- 
tury by the French statesmen. 



101 

they enable the public authorities to exercise a 
formidable system of intimidation over obnox* 
ious districts — and they afford important facili- 
ties for supplying by irregular means, the wants 
of the imperial exchequer. 

In England, the inequalities of the land-tax 
aire softened, by the paternal vigilance of a go- 
vernment which has no private interests to gra- 
tify, and by the equitable moderation of the 
revenue officers, who have no revolutionary en- 
mities to indulge,— and neither the temptation 
nor the power to commit excesses. The cir- 
cumstances of the two countries create, more- 
over, a difference on this head, which it may be 
useful to observe, as illustrative of their relative 
position with regard to taxes in general. Since 
the time of William and Mary, when the land- 
tax was assessed in England, rents have been 
continually augmenting, and the increase in 
the value of property has outstripped all cal- 
culation. The land-tax, therefore, subducts but 
a small proportion — even from the superfluous 
income of the rich, — and scarcely touches the 



102 

lower orders, who, generally speaking, enjoy 
in abundance the necessaries of life, whatever 
may be the mass of the public burdens. The 
same observation cannot be extended to France, 
where so many multitudes are limited to a bare 
subsistence, and where the equality of fortunes 
produced by the revolution, aggravates the 
pressure of an income-tax of the proportion of 
one fifth— because it trenches more upon the 
supposed superfluity of the proprietor, when 
estates are generally small. The best com- 
ment, however, upon the foregoing remarks, is 
to be found in a passage of Montesquieu. " In 
i% the taxing of lands," says he, u it is customary 
u to make lists or registers, in which the differ* 
*' ent classes of estates are inserted; but it is 
'* very difficult to find people to frame them, 
4t who are not interested in committing mis- 
" takes. Hei*e then are two sorts of injustice--* 
cc that of the man and that of the thing. But if, 
" in general, the tax be not exorbitant, and the 
" people continue to have plenty of necessaries, 
<• these particular acts of injustice will do but 
f 6 little harm. On the contrary, if the jimpls 



£5 



103 

enjoy only just what is necessary for subs': st- 
ence, the least disproportion %vill be of the 
greatest consequence. If some subjects d 
<4 not pay enough, the mischief is not great— 
€€ their convenience and ease redound always 
cc to the public advantage:— but if many pay 
*' too much, all parties suffer. Their ruin is a 
u public misfortune/'* 

There is another provision on the subject of 
the contribution fonciere, which should not pass 
unnoticed. When it was fixed at the rate of 
five per cent, on income, the privilege of peti- 
tioning for relief, was given to those who found 
themselves burthened beyond that proportion. 
But the remedy was, at first, impracticable, in 
consequence of the formalities required in the 
application, — and was at length rendered alto- 
gether illusory by a law of the Directory. The 
privilege was revived by the consular govern- 
ment, and still continues — with this clause, how- 
everf—tJiQt no relief is to be obtained, but ufion 

* Esp, des Loi*, lir. xiii. ch. vii. 



104 

conditio??, that the ftartxj aggrieved^ shall fioint 
oaf some estate within his district, which has 
been underrated, in order that the treasury may 
be- indemnified. The individual is thus con- 
demned to appear in the invidious light of an 
informer in order to obtain justice, — and ex- 
poses himself to the animosities which sugh a 
character is calculated to excite- Such a con- 
dition as this, if the government believed it 
would be accepted, presupposes a corrupt and 
degraded people,— and may serve to exempli- 
fy the style and spirit of that legislation, which — ? 
before it consents that an acknowledged wrong 
shall be redressed, — exacts a treacherous and 
disgraceful yiolation of all the common chari- 
ties and sympathies of life. It is without a 
precedent in the annals of domestic administra- 
tion, and may also be adduced to show with 
what inflexible rigour the claims of the treasury 
are enforced. 

The indirect taxes of France embrace, as I 
have before mentioned, the duties of excise, — 
those on legal proceedings, — on the transfer of 



105 

property,—- on registration, and various othet 
branches of revenue, which I shall enumerate 
in their order* 

The tax on registration, is one of the most 
important and lucrative sources of income to 
the government. It has superseded the Cvntrote 
of the old regime, which was the subject of so 
much popular clamour, and a favourite theme 
of declamation with the Economists. The new 
duty, infinitely more oppressive than the old* 
is levied upon all public oir private instruments 
of writing,— on all judicial and notarial acts of 
every description^ — on all changes and transfers 
of property, whether by gift, sale, or inherit- 
ance, — even on copies and extracts, madefroiii 
the parish registers, and the bills of mortality. 
The stamps {the duties on which are scarcely 
less onerous than those of England) extend to 
as great a variety of objects— and are propor- 
tioned — to the value of the paper, or of the 
manufacture — ot to the amoun of the sums 
connected with the writings, &c. on which 
they fall. Separate offices are established ia 

O 



106 

every district of the empire, for the enrolling 
of mortgages, upon which a heavy tax is im- 
posed, proportioned, generally, to the amount 
of the property mortgaged. 

The duties on registration are either deter- 
minate ox proportional, according to the subject- 
matter. They are determinate, — upon all 
such instruments, as those of procuration — of 
partnership— of divorce — of attachments — up- 
on proves verbaux, &c. but vary from one to 
five per cent, upon obligations, &c. and trans- 
fers of property by lease, sale, exchange, or 
other modes of alienation. Four fier cent, is 
levied upon the sale of real property; Jive upon 
inheritances in the collateral branch.* It was 
calculated, by the minister of finance, in the 
year eighteen hundred and three, that the capi- 
tal value of the real property of France, was, at 
least, thirty milliards of francs :f— that, accord* 

* See. Br. Smith, Wealth of Nat. b. 5. c. 2. p, 125., oa 
the subject of taxes on inheritance. 

f Bamel, Ad. des Finance*, p. 191. 



107 

ing to the usua probabilites of human life, the 
changes of property, occasioned by death-, 
w ould affect about one-thirtieth of that capital, 
annually, — and that the duty, therefore, upon 
inheritances, at one per cent, only, must yield 
ten millions of francs. There is also a tax rais- 
ed upon public sales of movables. None Can 
take place without previous declaration of the 
nature and period of the sale, from the regular 
officers, who also draw up a proces verbal of 
the result by which the tax is estimated. The 
duties on registration include also what are 
entitled les droits de greffe, or imposts upon the 
institution of suits, upon exemplifications and 
copies of records, upon the receipt of bail, &c. 
All interlocutory decrees or judgments, orders 
of court, writs of execution, &c. are equally 
subject to a ta£. It is stated, by the former mi- 
nister of finance, Ramel, that the duties on re- 
gistration might be made to yield one hundred 
millions of francs to the exchequer, u by a firo- 
* c fier extension of the tariff and particularly 
<c when the low price of firofierty y and the stag* 
€i nation of business, Could be corrected." There 



110 

" the transference of property of every kind, m 

" far as they diminish the capital value of that 

<c property, tend to diminish the funds destined 

" for the maintenance of productive labour. 

u Those are all, more or less, unthrifty taxes, 

u that increase the revenue of the sovereign, 

" which seldom maintains any but unproduc- 

" tive labourers, at the expense of the capital 

" of the people, which maintains none but pro- 

u ductive. Such taxes, even when they are pro- 

" portioned to the valve of the property trans- 

" ferred, are stilt unequal • the frequency of 

" transfers not being always equal in property 

" of equal value/'* 



Under the old government, the national fo- 
rests embraced three millions of arpents y ot 
acres, and gave about twelve millions of francs 
to the royal treasury. The annexation of all 
the forests, formally held by the corporate bo- 
dies and the emigrants, to those of the state, 
and great acquisitions of the same kind in Bel- 

* Wealth of Nations, b. 5« ch % p. 128. 



Ill 

glum and on the left bank of the Rhine, have 
augmented the number of acres to nearly five 
millions. They constitute a fruitful source of 
revenue, and yielded in one thousand eight 
hundred and six, something more than seventy 
millions of francs, according to the budget for 
that year. All forests above three hundred 
acres have been added to the national domains 
and declared inalienable. In the year one thou- 
sand eight hundred, the national forests were 
thenceforward exempted by law from the land* 
tax. They employ more than eight thousand 
persons, consisting of conservators, inspectors, 
guards, surveyors, &c. No individual propria 
tor of woodland can cut down his timber of 
deaf his land under a heavy penalty, without 
making six months previously a declaration of 
his intention to one of the conservators, whose 
report determines the government either to 
grant or refuse permission to that effect.* 
This regulation gives the government a virtual 
monopoly of the sale of wood throughout the 
empire. 

* The same law ex&ed under the eld rigime. 



112 

^According to Ramel, the sale of national dfc 
mains— consisting chiefly of the confiscated 
property of emigrants, -produced in the course 
of the revolution, about one hundred millions 
sterling, and contributed materially to defray 
the expenses of the republic. The movables,— 
according to the same writer, — yielded ten mil- 
lions sterling. In one thousand eight hundred 
and two, there remained — foir sale— in the old 
territory alone, — domains of a capital value of 
seventeen millions sterling; On the left bank of 
the Rhihe, of the valu£ of about six millions j 
and to these sums, was to be added — another of 
three millions for arrears. In the year one thou- 
sand eight hundred, five millions of francs were 
collected from the sale of national domains 
conquered in Holland. All the crown and pub- 
lic lands of Spain will undergo the same fatef* 
Domains of the capital value of forty-three mil- 
lions of francs, — situated principally On the left 
bank of the Rhine, — were bestowed on the se- 
nate and the legion of honour at the commence- 
ment of the imperial government,— but have 
since been receded: — a part, about twenty 



113 

tufte mlHions to contractors on account of the 
treasury, and the remainder to the sinking 
fund — in consideration of annuities on that 
fund. According: to the budget of one thousand 
eight hundred and seven, the annual produce of 
the property of this hatuf e, still in the hands of 
the government,— and altogether distinct from 
the national forests, amounted to something 
tnore than four millions. The government also 
draws a revenue from game-licenses, and 
from licenses to fish in the navigable rivers, of 
which in this respect it has assumed the sove- 
reignty* 

To persons conversant with the principles of 
political economy, the evils arising from the cir- 
cumstance of such immense tracts being in the 
hands of the executive authority must be at 
once apparent. In the hands particularly of such 
a government as that of France, the manage^ 
ment of so extensive a property is a source 
of oppression,— and robs the great body of the 
people of the additional revenue which it would 
yield, if left to the more productive care of in* 

P 



114 

dividual interest. A proposition founded- ott 
considerations of public utility, was made to the 
national assembly for the sale of the forests, — - 
but has never been agitated since. I shall quote 
the authority of Dr. Smith, whose general rea* 
soning on this subject deserves to be read with 
attention, and whose opinions are eminently 
just when applied to a country so populous as 
♦France. " The revenue which, in any civilized 
P5 monarchy, the crown derives from the crown 
" lands, though it appears to cost nothing to 
H individuals, in reality costs more to the so- 
cc ciety than any other equal revenue which the 
€c crown enjoys. It would, in all cases, be for 
cc the interest of society to replace this re- 
M venue to the crown, by some other equal re- 
3 venue, and to divide the lands among the peo- 
€i pie, which could not well be done better per- 
" haps, than by exposing them to public sale. 
c < ; Lands for the purposes of pleasure and mag* 
M nificence seem to be the only lands which ia 
■8 a great and civilized monarchy, ought to be- 
%i long to the crown, &c,"* 

* Wealth of Natioas— b. '$. c. 2* p. 89. 



115 

The gross produce of the public lotteries of 
Frnnce, is estimated at about twenty millions 
of francs. The receivers are entitled to five per 
cent, on what they collect, — which deduction, 
united to the expenses of the establishment, 
leaves about twelve millions for the exche- 
quer. The lottery offices are spread through- 
out all the cities of the empire, under the direc- 
tion of the administrators and inspectors ap- 
pointed by the government. The drawings 
take place twice a week at Paris, and as often 
at Bourdeaux, Brussels, Lyons, and Strasbourg, 
as to afford one every other day. The principle 
of the lotteries, which it would be now both 
tedious and irrelevant to explain, is, as may 
be easily imagined, highly favourable to the 
government. It was the desire of Necker that 
those of the old regime should be abolished. 
He reprobates them in his work on the finances^ 
as repugnant to all moral ideas; particularly 
when the profits accrue to the sovereign. Such, 
I think, should be the wish and feeling of eve- 
ry government studious of public morals, ami 



116 

eminently the policy of the present rulers of 
France,— if it came within the sphere of their 
views, to correct the vices of the heart* 

The rapid destruction and creation of for-, 
tunes,^— the fate of the paper currency, — and 
the impoverishment of all classes, during the 
revoiution,-r-have given. — in that country, — 
tenfold activity to the spirit of gambling, which 
naturally belongs to a sanguine people. It may 
be truly said to rage in the metropolis, and 
exhibits there, under the most disgusting and 
frightful aspect, all the miseries and disorders 
which usually follow in the train of licen- 
tious adventure and criminal indulgence. The 
tickets of the lottery pass from the hands of 
the factors,— at a considerable advance,— into 
those of the lower orders, whom the tumults 
of civil commotion and the absence of religious 
instruction, have estranged from the love and 
the habit of regular industry. — They circulate 
widely also,— among the class of abandoned 
profligates, — of persons without employment, 
les gens des&uvrts,— and of decent but neces- 



117 

sitpus individuals — with whom Paris abounds 
beyond any other capital in the world. I have 
heard it asserted by an intelligent person en- 
gaged in the administration of the lotteries, — ■ 
that they occasioned in Paris more than one 
hundred suicides in the course of the year. 

This may be an exaggerated estimate — but 
it will serve to illustrate the extent of the 
wretchedness and depravity to which they lead. 
— 'The numerous gambling tables of the capi- 
tal — all of which are licensed, — and some farm- 
ed out by the government — concur in inflam- 
ing the thirst of irregular gain ; — in vitiating 
the morals and deranging the habits, of 
private life, — I know not that any spectacle, 
among the varieties of vice and misery, which 
I had occasion to contemplate in Europe, 
struck me with more horror than the gambling 
orgies of the Palais Royal, where apartments of 
immense extent are at all hours of the night — 
filled with persons of both sexes, indiscrimi- 
nately engaged in games of the merest hazard, 
—and exhibiting, by their gestures and phy- 



118 

siognomy, — all the keen anguish and the tu- 
multuous agitation which the extremes of des- 
pair and elation can produce. Mixed with de- 
signing sharpers, — with spies of the police, — 
with famished mendicants and intemperate 
prostitutes, they form altogether a group which 
might have served as a model to the pictures 
of Dante's Inferno,* and than which nothing 
more disgusting is to be found in the delinea- 
tions of the pencil or in the fictions of poetic 
fancy. 

The imperial post-office yielded in the year 
] 807, about seven millions of francs net reve- 
nue. — The gross produce was estimated at 
twenty -five millions.— The necessity of main- 
taining post-offices near the armies, is assigned 
as the cause why so small a portion of the re- 

* It naturally recals to the mind the verses of the 
third Canto, 

Genti dolorose, orribiH favelle 

Anime triste, sospiri, pianti 

Parole di dolore, accent! d'ira 

Voci alte e fioche, et suon di man con elle, &$. 



119 

ceipts was emptied into the treasury. It is sta^ 
ted by the minister of finance that the gra- 
tuitous services rendered to the government 
and the constituted authorities,— would,— if 
paid for at the common standard,— produce 
about twelve millions.— I must remark gene- 
rally, that the functions which belong t© this 
establishment, are executed with great regu- 
larity and despatch. The discipline of that 
faranch of it, which is charged with the supply 
of post-horses for the convenience of travellers* 
is excellent and deserves to be imitated,* But 
under a political point of view, the whole is 
rendered a most formidable engine of despot 
tism. All the post-offices of the empire, aad 
those of the countries subject to French influ- 
ence, are rendered instrumental to the most 
arbitrary purposes of the domestic police and 
of the foreign policy of Bonaparte. — No papers 
of any description, — whether printed or manu* 
script, — are suffered to reach their destination* 
if not perfectly conformable to his views.-— 

* See Hire des pvstes* 



120 

No communication can be held through this 
channel without being subject to governmental 
inspection. Through the agency of the nume- 
rous functionaries of this establishment, and of 
the inn keepers, — with whom they are in close 
correspondence,— a minute supervision is ex- 
ercised over travellers in every part of the em- 
pire, of whom scarcely an individual can pasi 
unnoticed or unknown. I was credibly inform- 
ed in Paris that more thin thirty clerks are 
unremittingly employed in openiiig and copy- 
ing the letters which are received in the post- 
office of that capital. The provincial post- 
offices are similarly constituted. These bureaus 
de secret, as they are denominated, existed un- 
der the old o;overnment —but in a more limited 
extent. The Count de Broglie in a letter to 
Louis the Sixteenth, contained in the " Poli- 
tique de tous les Cabinets," states that in his 
time twelve clerks were occupied in the same 
way in Paris under the direction of a confiden- 
tial person, who, with them, formed a distinct 



121 

department in the office * The abuses which 
he ascribes to this horrid inquisition, are such 
as tend to destroy all confidence and spirit in 
individuals — and to disorder the whole frame 
of society. The character of the present go- 
vernment, and the state of morals in France, 
at this moment, do not authorise the hopey — 
that the extension of this system has been ac- 
companied by any mitigation,, either in the 
number or atrocity of the evils, of which the 
Count de Broglie complains.. 

In 1805, the net produce of the customs 
was stated in the budget at forty one millions 
of francs, The minister in his report of 1807 
has put down the receipts of the preceding 
year at sixty millions, — in which, however, he 
includes about fifteen millions raised from the 

*P. 15. vol. 1. " On a, de tres-ancienne date, etabli a 
" Photel des postes un bureau de secret. M. D'Ogny 
44 en est aujourd'hui le chef, et a une dbuzaine des 
44 commis sous lui, pour ouvrir toutes les lettres, ou du 
44 moins celles qu'on suspecte, et en tirer prompteraesit 
** des copies ail des extraits," &c. 

Q 



132 

salt-tax,— -with the collection of which the ad- 
ministration of the customs was charged. — A 
large portion of the remainder consisted of the 
produce of goods seized from smugglers, — and 
of English merchandize confiscated in the ter- 
ritories occupied by the French armies. — The 
minister boasts, manifestly, however, in a tone 
of forced exultation, " that the circumstances 
" of the war had not proved favourable to the 
" British trade with the continent, — and that 
" the commerce of France had been enriched 
" by the losses sustained by her rival.' — He 
adds,— that a line of French custom-house 
officers had been established from Cuxhaven 
to Travemunde in order to prevent the intro- 
duction of English merchandize by the fron- 
tiers of Holstein. — At this moment, the pro* 
duce of the customs must be drawn almost 
exclusively from the smuggling trade and the 
forfeiture of goods of Britisli manufacture. It 
will, however, be thought necessary for some 
time that a large item under this head should 
be introduced into the budget,— compounded 
of these or any other ingredients, however 



L 




123 

extraneous, — in order to conceal the amount 
of the loss consequent on the total privation of 
external trade. 

The seignorage on coin produced, in the year 
eighteen hundred and seven, about four hun- 
dred thousand francs. The whole amount of 
the new coinage, at that period, was about three 
hundred and sixty millions of francs. There has 
been some improvement in the machinery of 
the mint — but a material adulteration, particu- 
larly in the gold coin, although the new laws 
on this head prescribe the standard of the old 
regime. A tax, under the title of droit de ga- 
r&ntie, is raised upon all articles of gold and 
silver, fabricated by Jewellers, &c— -upon 
which the government imprints a stamp. The 
amount of specie, exiting in France before 
the revolution, was estimated by Necker at 
2,200,000,000 francs. Peuchet supposes it to 
have amounted, in the year eighteen hundred 
and seven within the limits of the old territory^ 
to 1,850,000,000. The diminution, however, 
must have been much more considerable than 



124 

tins writer is willing to allow. To be satisfied 
of this, it is only necessary to reflect on the va- 
rious causes which conspired to drain off the 
specie, in the course of the revolution: — such 
as — the vast amount of coin paid to the armies 
abroad— the operation of the paper currency- — 
the subtraction of capital by emigrants and 
others — and the great balance of trade, which 
has been uniformly against France, during the 
present and the last war, and which in the 
year eighteen hundred and one, amounted to 
1 1 2*659,000 francs, Much of the specie which 
remains is locked out of circulation in conse- 
quence of the character of the small proprie- 
tors, among whom the great estates have been 
divided. This idea may be best explained in 
*he language of Peuchet, a statistical writer of 
France, who cannot be suspected of exaggera 
tion, and whose testimony will throw additiona 
light on the numerous evils which have sprung 
from the equalization of property in his coun, 
try, " It is not merely necessary," says he, 
" that the specie should be abundant; it should 
" also be current : for, if it be locked out o£ 



125 

* 4 circulation, by distrust, avarice, or a limited 
u consum/ition, it might as well not exist. This 
" last cause of stagnation has been very sensi- 
* bly felt, since the alienation of the great 
" landed estates to the old residents of the 
V country. From being mere farmers and te- 
* c nants, they have become the proprietors of 
" an income of more than three hundred mil- 
" lions of francs ; and spend not the third part 
" of what the former possessors of the soil dis- 
" bursed in the consumption of the products of 
46 national industry. Hence, have resulted, a 
" void in the profits of industry, and a want of 
" money in commercial transactions ; which 
u are confined to mere signatures for the most 
tc part, and which never can regain their 
" former solidity and extent, as long as the. ter- 
" ritorial income is not more liberally expend- 
ed in the great cities. This inconvenience 
" may not be felt in a commercial country like 
" England ; but in France, whose chief wealth 
" is in the product of the soil, from the mo- 
" ment that the monied income remains stair ? 
u nant in the hands of those who do not pro- 



126 

iC mote that consumption, which nourishes in* 
f dustry and manufactures,- - the latter must 
u languish, and cannot revive until the chil- 
** d en of the present proprietors establish . 
" themselves and expend their incomes, in the 
" great cities/' (Statistique de la France, 1807, 
p 470.) 

The government enjoys a monopoly of pow- 
der and saltpetre, and exercises an exclusive 
privilege in the fabrication and sale of snuff and 
salt, in the departments beyond the Alps. 
They have laid a general tax <on salt, — more 
productive than the famous gabe/ie, — and 
scarcely less burdensome, although they are at * 
great pains to inculcate the utility of the ex- 
change. The duty is levied upon its fabrication 
at the salt-marshes, and farmed out to an ad- 
ministration or regie The retail sale is left un- 
incumbered in the interior of the empire. In 
this difference the principal advantage ascribed 
to it over the gab elk is said to consist. The 
price of the commodity is, however, higher 
than at any antecedent period j and I am much 



127 

inclined to adopt the opinion which Neckei 
suggests on this subject, " that the collection 
" of the revenue on salt, sold in an exclusive 
? but regular manner, is not more burdensome 
" to the people, than the collection of a propor- 
tionate impost levied at the salt-marshes/'* 
In order to render this duty, which has been 
particularly offensive to the nation the more 
acceptable, it was stated to be in lieu of, — and 
destined to the same purpose as, the tolls 
previously collected on the high roads. 

These tolls yielded about fifteen millions of 
francs annually, which the government pro- 
fessed to devote to the improvement of the 
roads, causeways, &c They gave rise to such 
gross peculation, and became so universally the 
subject of complaint, that it was at length found 
necessary to abolish the whole system of turn- 
pikes. The tax on salt was introduced in its 
stead. It was stated in the year eighteen hun- 
dred and six, by the minister of finance, that 

* Admm. des Finances, c. 1. vol, 2. 



128 

more than ttiirty- five millions of francs were 
annually requisite for the reparation of the roads, 
and public works. According to the budget, 
the whole expenditure of the minister of the in- 
terior does not exceed this sum—and it is, 
therefore, easy to conceive, that but a small 
portion of it is allotted to that purpose, as for the 
roads, &o, they fall exclusively within his 
province.. 

The state of the roads by no means corre- 
sponds with the pompous reports of the govern- 
ment. Before the revolution, the cross roads 
were much neglected, and declared to be, in 
many places, absolutely impassable. While 
these, — as it may easily be imagined, — under . 
went no improvement in the course of the re- 
volution, the great post roads and the naviga- 
ble canals, sustained incalculable injury. The 
new government has attended to them princi- 
pally with a view to facilitate the march of the 
troops — and not in order to promote the con- 
venience and domestic industry of the people. 
The great roads, therefore, leading to the fronr 



129 

tiers of Spain and Italy, and in the direction 
of the Rhine and of the Netherlands, — -the 
military highways, as they may be styled, — ■ 
have been carefully repaired, — while those of 
the Atlantic departments are still in the worst 
order imaginable.* Vast sums have been ex- 
pendednn the construction of an admirable 
road over the Simplon,-— and a similar one will, 
no doubt, be undertaken over some one of- the 
Pyrenees. It was a maxim of the Romans, that 
no country could be said to be thoroughly sub- 
dued, untill it was rendered completely per- 

* The testimony of the minister of finance will have 
some weight on this subject. His report for the year 
eighteen hundred and five, contains the following address 
to the emperor: " Dans cette France, objet de tant de 
f* jalousies, votre majeste voit par-tout encore des mines 
u a reparer; des landes arides a couvrir d'habitatiocs et 
14 de troupeaux: des marais qu'il faut rendre a la culture 
%< et a salubrite: des ports qu'il faut ouvrir ou recreuser; 
•" des departemens entiers qu'il Jaut> par des commKnica- 
2 tions attache?' mi reste de I' empire. Si la guerre se pro* 
" longe, que ne peut pas sentir que votre majeste est de* 
" tournee de ses vues les plus cheres: qu'elle sacrifie & 
" la necessite, a l'honneur, ce premier sentiment de la 
u nation, les interks de sa plus veritable gloire" &e. 

R 



150 

vious to the conquerors. Great expences have 
also been incurred in embellishing the capital, 
in order to feed the vanity of the monarch, 
and to increase the lustre of his reign, Large 
sums are expended on the public theatres, 
which are invested with an unrivalled degree 
of splendour, and in the encouragement of 
such of the arts as contribute to the decoration 
of the imperial palaces, and to the commemo- 
ration of a the sublime virtues and patriotic 
labours*' of the Emperor. But a traveller has 
occasion to observe every where, that works 
of real utility are altogether secondary in the 
consideration of the government. A tax, pro- 
ducing about six millions of francs, is levied 
upon the internal navigation of the empire, and 
operates greatly to the prejudice of the inland 
trade. It is the opinion of Dr. Smith, that all 
public works, — such as roads and canals, for 
the convenience of the inhabitants of a coun- 
try, or for the benefit of their inland trade, — 
are better maintained by a local revenue, un- 
der the management of a local administration, 
than by the general revenue of the state, 



131 



which must be at the disposal of the executi/e 
authority. This position, which is true in al- 
most all cases, is eminently so with regard to 
France under her present circumstances. 



The duties of excise and those on public 
carriages, playing-cards, &c. are denominated 
the united duties — les droits reunis. They yield 
a net revenue of about sixty millions of francs, 
and draw altogether from the people about one 
hundred millions. The tax upon tobacco in 
leaf, and upon the fabrication of snuff, pro- 
duces twenty millions. The licences sold to dis- 
tillers, and the duties imposed on every species 
of distillation, — such as that of grain, cherries, 
&c. and on breweries, yield also a considerable 
sum. The minute attention given to these 
sources of revenue, may be evidenced by a re- 
mark of the minister of finance in his report on 
this subject tor the year one thousand eight 
hundred and five. He stares that his majesty 
had decided that farmers, who distilled merely 
for the purpose of obtaining the malt necessary 



132 

for the support of their cattle, — might claim an 
alleviation of the tax — " etaient susceptibles de 
lafaveur dun abonnement" Jt is subjoined that 
the monarch had generously enacted— that the 
small beer, la petite-bierre, used by the lower 
classes of his subjects, should be privileged 
from the usual duty. It is impossible to ima- 
gine any beverage more meagre or cheap than 
this;— but still the exemption is announced as 
jt convincing proof of his imperial majesty's 
tenderness towards the poorer orders 1* 

The fiscal provisions on the subject of wines 
and spirituous liquors of every description, de- 
serve to be noticed. An inventory is drawn up 
by the revenue officers, of all the wines,— 
cider— perry — beer — brandy, &c. made within 
their jurisdiction. According to an estimate 
founded upon this inventory, a duty is levied in 
the first instance, — which in the budget of one 
thousand eight hundred and seven, is stated to 
have produced near seven millions of francs, 

* Budget 1805, p. 29. 



133 

Twenty per cent, moreover is exacted on every 
sale of these articles in the gross. No such sale 
can take place, nor can they be removed from one 
place to another, without a previous declaration 
of the buyer or seller, who obtains on paying 
the duty, a permit or discharge from the r.eve-- r 
nue-ofticer. When the latter has reason to sup- 
pose that a false statement has been made with 
regard to the value of the article, he jmay re- 
tain it, at the price stated, by paying in cash 
and one-fifth in addition; Ten per cent, is de- 
manded on every retail sale^ and a declaration 
is required from all retailers of the quantity and 
species of the liquors in their possession. They 
are to suffer the visits and examination of the 
excisemen, whenever it may be deemed neces- 
sary. Any contravention of the laws on tliis 
subject is punished by a confiscation of the ar- 
ticle seized, and a fine of one hundred francs. 
Menaces of extreme rigour are at the same time 
held out against those who are delinquent in 
paying the duties* (Loi sur les finances^ 1806,) 



134 

Independently of the taxes which I have enu- 
merated under the denomination of direct and 
indirect, there are various other oppressive im- 
posts, which should not be overlooked. The 
new coin entitled a franc — is divided into on? 
hundred parts called centimes — and under the 
name of additional centimes, {centimes addi- 
tionels) a certain per centage is levied upon the 
whole amount of the direct taxes for various 
purposes, — one of which is the supply of the 
deficit which may occur in the collection of 
those taxes. The government exacts, also, a 
large per centage on this fund under the title of 
a war-tax. The councils of the departments and 
of the communes, are authorised to levy a simi- 
lar contribution, for the purpose of defraying 
local charges of every description ; — for the sup- 
port of the judiciary establishment and all its 
appendages — of the provincial bureaux — of pri- 
sons, hospitals, &c. I shall state the amount of 
this per centage in several instances, in order to 
convey an idea of the vast addition which it 
isiakes to the public burdens. 



K5 

Ramel calculates* that the additional an* 
times levied in the year one thousand eight 
hundred, amounted to forty-three and a half 
per cent, on the total of the direct taxes. In the 
year one thousand eight hundred and seven, 
the government imposed an additional duty, on 
account of the war, of ten per cent, on the land- 
tax — ten per cent, on the window-tax — fifteen 
per cent, on the droll des fiaientes, &c. The gene- 
ral councils were authorised to levy sixteen per 
cent, on all the direct taxes for the purposes 
mentioned above: — one and a half per cent, for 
the expences of the general survey — four per 
cent, for the reparation of the public buildings, 
roads, &c; The councils of the communes wer$ 
also empowered to raise a considerable per cent* 
age in order to defray the expenses of their par* 
ticular subdivisions. The latter present an an- 
nual budget to the minister of the interior,— 
and, as well as the general councils, act under 
his directions in the imposition of the local 
charges. In one thousand eight hundred and 

* Admin, dm Fin. p. 92, 



136 

eight, the councils of the departments were au- 
thorised to raise seventeen per cent, on the di- 
rect taxes for general purposes : — and five per 
cent, for the improvement of the roads, bridges, 
&c. The councils of the communes were in- 
vested with the privilege of collecting duties 
according to the rates of the preceding . year* 
within their particular jurisdictions. Ten per 
tent, was also imposed upon the income of all 
real property; — ostensibly, for the purpose 
of rebuilding and repairing places of worship — 
for the reparation of the ecclesiastical semina- 
ries—and for the purchase of dwellings for the 
ministers of religion — both catholic and pro- 
testant. 

The amount of the additional centimes col- 
lected for the discharge of expences of a gene- 
ral nature, — -such as those of public instruction 
&nd of the administration of justice, is received 
by the treasury r , and appropriated to the avow- 
ed object or not, according to the discretion or 
the necessities of the executive. The remainder 
is retained in the hands of the public authori- 



137 

ties of the departments, who are responsible ' 
to the treasury for its application. Peuchet,* in 
stating the sum which this branch of revenue 
yields to the exchequer, acknowledges that a 
much more considerable one remains behind with 
the provincial administrations. The minister of 
the treasury, in his report for one thousand eight 
hundred and seven, estimates the amount re- 
ceived by his department at fifty millions,! 
We may venture to affirm that about double 
this amount was reserved in the hands of the 
provincial authorities for local purposes. The 
councils may, at any time, propose to the go- 
vernment such an additional percentage, as the 
domestic interests of their departments seem 
to require. The government may, also, at any 
period, by a special law, impose an additional 
tax of this sort, either conformably to a propo- 
sition of the councils, or according to exigen- 
cies of state produced by the war, or other un- 
expected causes.\ Additional centimes have at- 

* Statistique dela France, p. 519. 

f Etat A. 

± Loi sur les finances,— Budget, 1807, p. 122, 

s 



138 

io been levied Upon the indirect taxes, under 
the name of a war-tax. 

Under the title of octrois de bienfaisance, du- 
ties are levied upon provisions of every de- 
scription, carried into the cities of France. The 
product of these duties is received by the local 
authorities, and applied to municipal pur- 
poses, — the chief of which is the improvement 
of hospitals, prisons, &c. It is on this account 
that they are qualified as duties of charity. In 
the management of this fund, the municipal of- 
ficers are subject to the authority of the minis- 
ter of finance, without whose permission no- 
thing can be disbursed by the receiver, — in 
districts, — the revenue of which exceeds twen- 
ty thousand francs. Ten per cent, is levied 
upon the net produce of these duties for what is 
termed the fiain de soufie des troufies, a contri- 
bution for the subsistence of the troops in the 
neighbourhood of the cities resembling the 
Annona Militaris of the Romans. 



139 

Before the revolution, the administration of 
the finances was committed to the sole care of a 
director or controller general. It is now divided 
into two distinct departments under the manage- 
ment of different ministers, — the one entitled 
the minister of the treasury, the other the mini- 
ster of the finances. The latter superintends the 
execution of the laws, relative to the assessment 
and collection of the taxes, — regulates all the 
establishments, such as the post-office, the cus- 
toms, &c. which yield a revenue to the exche- 
quer,— -and issues orders for the public payments 
which are made by the treasury. He is supposed 
to act only by virtue, either of a general law, 
of an arret6 of the executive— or of a mandat 
or order from a minister. The treasury is the 
central point of all receipts and disbursements. 
The minister of this department is charged 
witl| the verification of the sums received and 
paid over to him by the collectors, — with all 
public payments when warranted by an order 
from the minister of finance — and with the 
guardianship of the grand livre or book of in- 
scriptions for the public debt. 



140 

Both ministers exhibit annually a separate 
budget, prefaced by an exposition of the state of 
their respective departments. The report of the 
minister of finance is accompanied by an eluci- 
dation of its' various items, and a general sur- 
vey of the financial resources of the empire. 
Their accounts are subject to the revision of a 
committee \ consisting of seven members, ap* 
pointed by the conservative senate, who bear 
the name of the committee of national account- 
ability — comptabilite nationale. An exposition 
of the amount of the revenue and expenditure 
is submitted every month to the Emperor, who 
allots to each department of state, the sum which 
the supposed wants of the department require. 
It was solemnly decreed in one thousand eight 
hundred and five, by a senatus consultum, that 
the budget should receive the visa of the arch- 
chancellor as an important formality ! As the 
revenue cannot be realized within the year, 
the accounts are left open and stated in the 
budget of the following year under the title of 
exercises. These open accounts, which are re- ' 
peated for three or four years, considerably in- 



141 

crease both the volume and the intricacy of the 
budgets. 

In the pompous addresses of the two minis- 
ters to the emperor, much stress is laid on the 
utility accruing to the public from these re- 
ports — on the magnanimity displayed by the 
government in the publication of them— and 
on the satisfaction which the community must 
draw from the knowledge "they afford of the 
just and wise application of the public treasure. 
It will not therefore be irrelevant to my general 
purpose, to indulge in a few remarks on this 
subject, before I proceed to explain the manner 
in which the revenue is collected. 

I scarcely need suggest that these reports 
are prepared under the immediate inspection of 
the Emperor — and by those who are the mere 
slaves of his will. They are subject to no legis* 
lative scrutiny whatever, and are exhibited to 
the deliberative assemblies as a proof of impe- 
rial condescension. Notwithstanding the boast 
with regard to the notoriety given them, they 



142 

are presented only in part to the public, in the 
columns of the Moniteur. The full reports 
are reserved for the functionaries of the two de- 
partments, with the exception of a few copies for 
the members of the legislative bodies. In con- 
gratulating the Emperor on the improvements 
which he had made in the machine* of the trea- 
sury, the minister mentions in terms of lively 
satisfaction, the circumstance of his having ren- 
dered its movements so simple and free> — that 
his department was at length relieved from the 
necessity of entrusting foreign agents, agens 
etr anger s^ with the discharge of its first duties 
and the secret of its most important operations.! 
By foreign agents he means persons not em- 
ployed in the treasury office. This language 
needs no comment. 

The public, in fact, could derive no advan- 
tage from the free circulation of these documents, 
if they were suffered to go abroad. Each re- 

* Robespierre entitled the Convention, his Machine 
a Becrets. The term is well chosen by the minister of the 
treasury. 
;f Report, 1807. Preface* 



143 

port occupies about one hundred and forty 
quarto pages, and is studiously couched in a 
language almost unintelligible even to those 
who are most familiar with the phraseology 
and details of fiscal calculation.* The series 
of reports, denominated the general accounts, 
" Les comptes generaux du tresor fiublic et de 
" V administration des finances" which I have 
now before me, abound with the grossest con- 
tradictions. To detect them, requires a mi- 
nute investigation and thorough comprehension 

* Such for instance as the following phrase—" Votre 
" majeste a mis un terme a cette multiplicity de comptes 
«* d'exercises concurremment ouverts qui sous le pretexte 
•* de conserver a chaque creancier la speciality du gage 
" promis, inquietait tous les creanciers par l'eventualite de 
" la realization de ce gage,*' &c. — Or as follows — " chaque 
" fait de comptabilite est necessairement complexe ; car 
w il constate un acte qui, s'il degage l'un f engage neces* 
u sairement un autre. Ainsi, chaque fait met en rapport 
w necessaire et en opposition deux interets — le credit de 
" Pun et le debit de Pautre. — C'est dans cette observation 
<c exacte du double interet qui characterize chaque fait, 
•* et dans cette opposition des deux interets que la compt- 
" abilite en partie double a pris, avec sa denomination, la 
u garantie de son exactitude et Pelement du controle effi- 
" cace qu'elle emploie," &c. (Muustere du Tresor— 
budget, 1807. 



144 

of the entire reports; whicK few can under- 
stand who have not enjoyed particular aids. 
The vanity, however, of different ministers, 
who have succeeded each other, has prompted 
them to indulge in obscure hints relative to the 
abuses which existed under their predecessors 
—and their eagerness to exhibit the sagacity 
and vigilance of the Emperor in the strongest 
light, has betrayed them into an occasional 
disclosure of the enormous evils which the 
budget of every consecutive year has reprodu- 
ced and extinguished. The prosperity of the 
present and the future is always without alloy. 
It is from their lamentations over the past and 
from much personal inquiry and observation, 
during my residence in Paris, that I have de- 
rived a knowledge of the abuses which I ha Ve 
undertaken to suggest. 

I must also remark of the budgets, that until 
the year 1806, they present nearly an exact 
arithmetical equality of the receipts and dis- 
bursements. The minister of the treasury, 
towever, in his report of 1807, felicitates the 



145 

Emperor, on having discovered that this perfect 
equation, — the complete symmetry which was 
thought to argue so wonderful a degree of or- 
der and foresight, proved too much : — that it 
could be no other than a fortuitous result at 
all times and was of no real utility, &c. There 
is moreover, something curious, in the gloss, 
which, — in the report of the preceding year, 
— is put upon the accumulation of all the pub* 
lie funds in one common recipient — the trea- 
sury, — and on the arbitrary application of those 
funds to general purposes. The rejection or 
disregard of all specific appropriations by gene- 
ral law, would, in every other country, be con- 
sidered as fatal to public liberty, and necessa- 
rily productive of the most mischievous dis- 
orders. But in France these viremens as they 
are styled,- — the appropriation, for instance,, 
of the capital of the sinking fund to the wants 
of the war ministry, with a supposed intention^ 
of reimbursing that fund, — are qualified as 
reciprocal loans, calculated to facilitate the 
public service and. to promote the circulation 
cf specie! I must add on the subject of these 

X 



146 

reports that I have conversed much with intel- 
ligent members of the treasury in Paris, and 
have never known one, who did not consider 
them, as a mere stalkinghorse for the mal- 
versation of the government. They are at the 
same time rendered subservient to the views 
of the Emperor, in securing the adherence of 
the subordinate agents, whom this semblance 
of order would enable him the more easily to 
destroy by accusations of irregularity and cor- 
ruption. 

Every village and commune of France has a 
collector or tax-gatherer, who pays over the 
amount of his receipts to a treasurer called a 
particular receiver — of whom there is one for 
every district. There is also a receiver- general \ 
for each department, into whose hands the par- 
ticular receivers convey the sums drawn from 
the collectors, and who communicate immedi- 
ately with the treasury. They are all under the 
active superintendence of an administration, 
entitled the direction of the taxes redirection des 



147 

contributions. This administration consists of a 
director-general — of inspectors, verificators, 
controllers, &c. and of various other functiona- 
ries — whose province it is — to watch over the 
receivers and tax-gatherers, and to regulate 
and expedite the collection of the taxes. In 
1805, the number of chief officers, emfiloya en 
chef) belonging to the direction of the taxes , 
amounted throughout the empire, without in- 
cluding Piedmont, to 1044 — 254 controllers of 
the first class, 588 of the second, &c. The ad- 
ministrations for the collection of the indirect 
taxes, employ likewise an immense multitude 
of directors, sub-directors, inspectors, sub- 
inspectors, clerks, verificators, visitors, .con. 
trollers, receivers, excisemen, firefiosh and 
simfiles emfiloyh^ hussiers, regisseurs, &c. — 
These, together with the agents employed in 
the collection of the direct-taxes, are all no. 
minated by the Emperor, and form a host of 
unproductive labourers, —of spies and petty 
tyrants, who, — while they devour the sub- 
Stance of the people, promote, as a domestic 



148 

inquisition, the political as well as the fiscal 
despotism of their patrons. 

The tax-gatherers, (les fierce fiieurs) are en- 
titled to jive jxer cent on all they collect — and 
the receivers to the same per centage on what- 
ever is emptied into their chest. The agents 
of the different regies* upon which the col- 
lection of the indirect taxes devolves, are 
recompensed in the same way. This mode of 
payment, — by allowing the revenue officers a 
certain proportion of their receipts, — has been 
selected in order to quicken their zeal, and to 
secure their fidelity. The budgets state merely 
the net firoduce of the taxes, after a deduction 
of these discounts and of all the exfienses of col- 
lection. The latter are, therefore, to be consi- 
dered as additional charges upon the people — 
of no small amount. 

Under the old monarchy, according to 
Necker, the expenses of collection, amounted 
to fifty-eight millions of livres, — 10; per cent. 



149 

on the totality of the taxes paid by the people.* 
Peuchet, after acknowledging that there are 
no positive data^ upon which such a calculation 
could be made in France at this moment'^ ac- 
knowledges, however, that the expenses of 
collection on the land-tax alone, could not 
have been lower, in 1803, than 165 per cent. 
The charges of the same kind on the other 
taxes are still more considerable according to 
the statements of the minister of finance. I 
should calculate them at twenty per cent, at 
least, taking into consideration solely the in- 
crease in the number of the revenue officers 
and the high poundage to which they are enti- 

4 



tled.+ 



Necker conjectures that, in his time the ad- 
ditions made to the burdens of the people by 

* Admin, des Fin. ch. 3, tome i. 

-J- Statistique, p. 524. 

% According to Sir John Sinclair (History of the Re- 
venue, vol. 2d, p. 109) — the expense of collecting the 
land tax in England in 1788, was only three per cent.— 
and the whole revenue was then collected at an expense 
of seven and a half per cent. (vol. 2d, p. 162.) The 
proportion is very little higher at this mement. 



150 

the expenses of lawsuits, writs and seizures, 
incident to delinquency with regard to the pay- 
ment of the taxes, — amounted to about seven 
million five hundred thousand livres. The 
minister of finance in his report of 1806, states 
that these expenses, which are called frais de 
froursuite> bore a mean proportion of ih to the 
amount of the direct taxes. In some depart- 
ments, the ratio was *t and still higher. It 
should be noticed that this is the cost incurred 
by the government in enforcing payment of 
the direct taxes and must be attended by much 
heavier losses to the unfortunate delinquents. 
The injuries sustained by the people, from 
judicial sales and seizures — costs of litigation 
and obscure vexations, which Dr. Smith so 
often and so emphatically declares to be equi- 
valent to expense, and from the fines super- 
added to the confiscation and sale of movables, 
cannot, — with respect to the collection of the 
indirect taxes, — be susceptible of any certain 
valuation, but must evidently be much more 
considerable now than under the old regime, 
—when all the channels of domestic prosperity 



151 

were open to the nation, and the characteristic 
severities of arbitrary power mitigated and 
tempered by the influence of public opinion 
and of the social virtues. 

In the time of Necker, the farmers general — 
the general and particular-receivers, and all the 
subalterns in the service of the treasury, advan- 
ced sums to the government as securities for 
the faithful discharge of their trust. For these 
securities, they were paid an interest of five per 
cent, and in some cases, of seven. The present 
government has adopted the same system with 
regard to the new receivers and collectors, who 
now deposit, individually, in the exchequer, a 
sum in cash, — under the title of cautionnement 
or pledge,— equal to the one twelfth of all the 
public money which passes through their hands. 
The minister of finance very properly denomi* 
nates these securities — a loan— and of no small 
magnitude, as they amounted, according to 
the budget of one thousand eight hundred and 
five, to eighty-five millions of francs. No plau- 
sible objection could be raised against this plan, 



152 

if it were confined merely to the agents of the 
treasury in order to prevent insolvency or pecu- 
lation on their part, but it has been extended, 
in a most arbitrary manner, to other classes of 
persons, and converted into an expedient for 
the creation of a new fund applicable to the 
general expenses of the state. 

All bankers, lawyers, notaries, brokers, ju- 
dicial officers, butchers, &c— and, in general, 
all persons exercising responsible trades and 
professions,, are compelled to deposit similar 
securities in cushy — according to a graduated 
scale. I was informed by a notary of the second 
order in Paris— that he had been called upon to 
advance thirty thousand francs, about six thou- 
sand dollars, as a cautionnement, before he 
could obtain permission to act in his profession- 
al capacity. Since the enactment of the law, ad- 
ditions, under the name of supplementary secu- 
rities, have been made every year to the origi- 
nal demand, and new offices* created, in order 

* " Vmgt nouvelles places d'agens de change," says 
the budget of 1807, " ©at doiuve— 1,000,000 fraaca." 



153 

augment this fund, so that it has hitherto 
worn the aspect of a permanent branch of reve- 
nue. The law provides that the sums thus 
deposited, are to be refunded on the death or 
resignation of the parties, — but as their suc- 
cessors renew them, no portion of them is in 
fact withdrawn from the treasury. The whols 
sum which this system has yielded, must be 
considerably more than one hundred millions of 
francs. 

The interest assigned to thje contributors, 
was originally five and six per cent.- but in one 
thousand eight hundred and eight, it was redu- 
ced to four and five per cent. Even this, incon- 
siderable as it is, when compared with the usual 
rates in France, is not regularly discharged. 
The payment of it was charged on the caisse 
d y amortisse?nent^ or sinking fund,— on the na* 
ture of which I shall touch in a subsequent 
page. The caisse d % amortissement^ however, has 
been uniformly devoted to the general expenses 
of the state. The specific objects of the fund 
haye been either wholly disregarded, or only 

U 



154 

partially gratified. In one thousand eight hun- 
dred and six, it x was decreed that it should, 
for thai", as well as for the succeeding year, — 
be indemnified for the sums which it was en- 
titled to claim from the treasury for the dis- 
charge of the national debt, and the payment oi 
the interest of the seem ities, by a delegation of 
cession to its use of national domains— valuecf 
at twenty years 1 purchase .* This proceeding 
was equivalent to a breach of faith ; and, like 
the whole system of jobbing in national do- 
mains, of a most pernicious tendency with re- 
gard to public mcrals. It must be also super- 
fluous to suggest that these securities are, in 
fact, forced loans , disguised under another name, 
the suppression of which is so often proclaimed 
by the minister of finance as one of the most 
important of the reforms produced by the new 
organization of his department. They operate, 
at the same time, as a strong tie upon the loyal- 
ty of the contributors of every description,—* 
who are well satisfied that both principal and 

* Budget, 1807; p. & 



155 

interest would vanish on the dissolution of the 
present government. 

The general receivers draw bills on them 
elves, at the commencement of the year, in fa- 
vour of the government,--payable the fifteenth 
of every month, — for the whole amount of the 
direct taxes, and bills at sight, for the amount 
of such of the indirect taxes as ate paid over to 
them. The particular receivers draw in the same 
manner in favour of the general receivers, bills 
payable fifteen days before those of the latter 
fall due. The collectors pursue the same course 
with regard to the particular receivers. The 
bills at sight are distributed among the pay- 
masters for the public service. The rest are 
negotiated by the treasury. The sinking-fund 
is charged with the payment of such as are pro- 
tested. The loss sustained by the government 
in negotiating the paper emitted on account of 
the direct taxes, although every motive conspires 
to induce a regular payment on the part of the 
receivers, may be alleged as a criterion of the 
state of public credit in Franc?. It was fifteen 



156 

millions of francs in one thousand eight hun- 
dred and two — eighteen millions in one thou- 
sand eight hundred and four — and sixteen mil- 
lions in one thousand eight hundred and six. 
The minister of finance in his report for one 
thousand eight hundred and seven, complains, 
that he was compelled, in the commencement of 
the preceding year, to negotiate the bills of the 
receivers at a discount of one and one-sixteenth 
per month. He assigns causes for this enormous 
discount which are somewhat curious when 
contrasted with the flattering representations of 
the budget of one thousand eight hundred and 
six. They are conveyed in the following com- 
pliment to the emperor, u It belonged to your 
" majesty alone, ivhen the treasury experienced 
" a deficit cf cue himdred uiiWciu^ mid the re- 
"sources cf public credit seemed to be exhcvsU 
" ed y to correct these disorders at once, and to 
u enable your minister to moderate tie dis- 
u count when the wants of the treasury exacted 
" a more abundant emission of paper." In a 
preceding report he animadverts severely on 
the abuses practised in the negotiation of 1&* 



157 

bills, by stock-jobbers and others, who were 
disposed to fatten on the necessities of the state. 

The caisse d'amortissement, or sinking 
fund, was originally formed from the capital 
of the securities of the receivers, and the 
ostensible purpose of its creation, was the 
discharge of the interest of those securities. 
Upon the cession of national domains to its 
use, and the extortion of supplementary se- 
curities, — the government thought proper to 
announce that the reduction of the national 
debt would come " within the sphere of its ac- 
tivity." In this respect only, it bears an affini- 
ty to the fund of the same name in England, 
which is destined to produce such important 
benefits to that country, and constantly serves 
as a rich fund of credit The caisse d'amor- 
tissement enjoys no such advantage — and as I 
have before observed, has been uniformly de- 
flected from its ostensible purposes. It is con- 
verted into a mere expedient for the supply of 
the immediate wants of the government, and 
has contributed rather to augment than to di- 



158 

minish the amount of the public debt, as may 
be seen from the reports of the minister of fi- 
nance himself, * The substitution of national 
domains for the regular proceeds of the fund 
is, in fact, tantamount to an insolvency for it, 
and makes it subservient to new violations of 
public faith. The holders of the tiers consolides^ 
were authorised to tender them in payment for 
the national domains ceded to the fund, and it 
was by the acquisition of this stock, that it was 
to reduce the national debt. Such in fact, would 
have been the effect of this operation, although 
attended by considerable loss, if the govern- * 
ment did not lay violent hands upon the stock 
when obtained, as well as upon every resource 
of the fund* 

My limits will not permit me to undertake a 
particular investigation concerning the security 
of public faith at this moment in France j — a 
subject on which the ministers of the new go- 
vernment dwell with great apparent complacen- 

* See Budget of 1807, under the head of Caisse d y Amor* 
iissemcnU 



159 

cy, in all their official reports. I shall, however, 
venture to offer a few details, — the result of my 
own observation, — which may serve to evince 
the sense, which these gentlemen entertain, of 
the true elements of public credit. During my 
residence in Paris, motives of friendship to- 
wards an individual in whose concerns I took 
a lively interest, induced me to attend to the 
progress of a large claim which he was then 
prosecuting on the ministry of the marine. This 
circumstance led me to frequent the bureaux — 
and gave me an opportunity of obtaining an 
experimentalknowledge of the manner in which 
business is transacted in that department. The 
claim had been pending for some years, and 
was founded upon bills of exchange, drawn on 
the office of the marine by the French charge 
des affaires in this country, in consequence of 
contracts into which he had entered here, and 
which were regularly fulfilled by the claimant. 
According to the general principles of justice 
and to the usages which other governments 
have thought it, on all occasions, indispen- 
sably necessary to follow— in order to preserve 



160 

their credit abroad, these bills were not open 
to contravention or discussion, and should 
have been paid conformably to their tenor. 
The bills however were not merely rejected, 
but the contracts themselves, which the charge 
des affaires, had been specifically empowered 
to make, — were rescinded, and the creditor 
was called upon to substantiate his claim by 
original documents and minute vouchers, — ex- 
isting in this country, — and not to be procur- 
ed without great difficulty and delay. Such, as 
I have reason to know, has been the uniform 
course of proceeding in this department, except 
in cases where it was necessary to support a 
temporary Credit, in order to secure the com- 
pletion of contracts, only in a course of exe- 
cution. 

From the fate of the abovementioned claim, 
I discovered that all demands not liquidated or 
admitted within the year, were thrown into 
what is termed the arriere, or classed under the 
arrears of the department; and that, how- 
ever sacred the nature of the debt,— payment 



161 

could be expected only in the mode which I 
shall proceed to explain. I have before stated 
that the Emperor makes a monthly allotment of 
funds to the departments of state, according 
to the conception which he may form of the 
urgency of their wants, — or of the importance 
of sustaining the credit, and promoting the 
service of a particular department. Although 
the expenditure of the ministry of the marine 
has been actually immense — the appropria- 
tions to this branch of the public service, 
which is altogether of secondary importance 
in his scheme of policy, hive been uniformly 
insufficient for the current charges of the year. 
The arrears, therefore, created in order to di- 
minish these charges, — in violation of every 
maxim of justice, and even of prudence, if 
the preservation of public credit were an ob- 
ject, — are in fact left unpaid : — but it was no- 
minally provided that they should be discharg- 
ed with the bons, or paper of the sinking fund : 
— thus converting the principle of the debt in 
arrear into an annuity of six per cent, which 
during my residence in Paris, could not be 



162 

disposed of in the market,— but at an enor- 
mous loss. 

I 

As these arrears do not make part of the na- 
tional debt properly so called, this alienation of 
the paper of the sinking fund, is, as you may 
observe, a strange irregularity. The whole pro- 
ceeding would, indeed, amount to a periodical 
bankruptcy for the department, even if the 
paper or six per cents, were actually applied to 
the discharge of its arrears. But the appropri- 
ation depends upon the will of the Emperor, 
which is not always favourable — and again — 
upon the discretion of the minister of the ma- 
rine, who finds it more convenient to render 
his resource when granted, instrumental to 
his relief from the exigencies of the moment. 
These causes have operated to prevent the 
payment of the claim to which I have particu- 
larly alluded, — although it has long since been 
officially acknowledged or liquidated. Upon a 
representation of the case to the minister of the 
marine, the reason assigned both in Hfe verbal 
and written replies for a delay so fatal i'Q the 



163 

creditor, has uniformly been, — that the Empe- 
ror had made no allotment for the payment of 
his arrears — that is to say, — that he wanted 
funds for the fulfilment of his engagements. An 
extraordinary plea this for the head of a prin- 
cipal department of state, — under a monarch, 
whose ministers so ostentatiously proclaim on 
all occasions the inviolability of his faith and 
the exuberance of his resources ! The solemn 
hypocrisy, and grave, systematic falsehood 
of their official documents ; — this prostitution 
of the ceremonial of government, which should 
be as hallowed as the rites of the altar, or of 
the judgment seat — exhibits, according to my 
mind, something still more profligate in the 
conception, and dangerous in the example — • 
than the flagitious but open doctrines, and the 
relentless but undissembled violence of their 
revolutionary predecessors. 

By the sacrifice of one half of such claims it 
is possible to dispose of them to the secret 
agents of the minister ', or of the chief clerks of 
the department, who then secure full payment 
for themselves — to the neglect and injury of 



164 

such creditors as are unwilling to accede to 
this wretched compromise. The chief clerks 
scarcely hesitate to hold a direct communica- 
tion with the victims of their rapacity, and 
openly support establishments, the expenses of 
which, as they far exceed the amount of their 
salaries, are obviously defrayed from the pro- 
fits of this species of robbery. Exclusive of 
their emissaries, — numbers of hungry sharpers 
hang about the public offices and crowd the 
stock exchanges, — watching the fallen counte- 
nance of the repulsed creditor ; and prepared, 
— when fatigue and disappointment drive him 
to despair, — to speculate upon his miseries, — 
cither by the purchase of his claim, — or by the 
extortion of money under the pretext of brib- 
ing influence in his favour. One whom circum- 
stances have not brought into contact, as it 
were, with this iniquitous traffic, cannot easily 
imagine to what an extent it is pursued, — and 
what a scene of dark, mysterious, profligate in- 
trigue is unfolded to the view on a near inspec- 
tion. There is connected with this subject, ano- 
ther kind of exhibition, — in its effect not dissi- 



165 

rnilar to the most tragical forms of the drama^ 
which a person habituated by the institutions 
of his country to ideas of justice and equality, 
cannot readily forget. I mean the public audi- 
ence of the minister of the marine for the pur- 
pose of receiving petitions and remonstrances, 
held once every month. I attended this meet- 
ing several times, and witnessed a spectacle of 
wretchedness and bri^Lality not often parallel- 
ed. The contrast between the splendid cos- 
tume of the minister, and of his attendants — 
and the squalid appearance of the trembling 
suppliants about him was not more striking — 
than the savage insensibility and vulgar inso- 
lence with which he stifled the tale of their dis- 
tresses. Sometimes, however, despair breaks 
through all considerations of power and rank, 
and on two or three occasions, when I was 
present, gave rise to bitter reproaches and to 
bold expostulation, calculated to develop more 
fully the systematic injustice of this depart- 
ment. These bursts are never suffered to pass 
with impunity, but no degree of coercion can 
at all times restrain the impetuous feelings of 



166 

our nature, when goaded by the fear of want 
and exasperated by the oppression of tyrants, 
who — in the case of their own subjects, — 
scarcely deign to employ a pretence to varnish 
over their excesses. 

Their bad faith has been productive of the 
consequences which may always be expected, 
when the same course is pursued. This poli- 
cy is at all times, not that of economy, but of 
extreme prodigality. The French rulers, 
whatever may be their power, are unable to 
obtain supplies at home — but by sacrifices 
equivalent to the risk which is incurred by 
contracting with them. Their credit abroad 
may be estimated by the fact which is so well 
known to us all, that no intelligent merchant 
in this country can be induced by any consi- 
deration, to make advances in their favour, or 
to accept a bill on their treasury, from their 
highest accredited agent. 



I shall now proceed to lay before you my 
estimate of the permanent revenue of the go- 



167 

vemment, and of the burdens imposed upon 
the people of France. My calculations will 
be drawn from the acknowledgments of the 
minister of the treasury, — and supported by 
conjectures, in which, those who reflect on 
the preceding details, will readily acquiesce* 

In the budget of one thousand eight hun- 
dred and six, the sums paid over to the treasu- 
ry by the receivers, are stated at eight hundred 
and seventy-seven millions, one hundred and 
eighty-three thousand, five hundred and eigh- 
ty-one francs," Besides these, a considerable 
amount is deposited separately by the admini- 
strations of the indirect taxes, and received 
from other quarters. The addition of this 
amount makes, according to the budget, one 
thousand one hundred and thirty-three mil- 
lions, two hundred and thirty-three thousand, 
six hundred and ninety-one franes,+ — for the 
whole receipts of the treasury at Paris during 
one thousand eight hundred and six. In this 
sum, however, are included about one hundred 

* P. 5. Etat. A. t P. 63 Etat. FF, 



166 

our nature, when goaded by the fear of want 
and exasperated by the oppression of tyrants, 
who — in the case of their own subjects, — 
scarcely deign to employ a pretence to varnish 
over their excesses. 

Their bad faith has been productive of the 
consequences which may always be expected, 
when the same course is pursued. This poli- 
cy is at all times, not that of economy, but of 
extreme prodigality. The French rulers, 
whatever may be their power, are unable to 
obtain supplies at home — but by sacrifices 
equivalent to the risk which is incurred by 
contracting with them. Their credit abroad 
may be estimated by the fact which is so well 
known to us all, that no intelligent merchant 
in this country can be induced by any consi- 
deration, to make advances in their favour, or 
to accept a bill on their treasury, from their 
highest accredited agent. 



I shall now proceed to lay before you my 
estimate of the permanent revenue of the go- 



167 

vemment, and of the burdens imposed upon 
the people of France. My calculations will 
be drawn from the acknowledgments of the 
minister of the treasury, — and supported by 
conjectures, in which, those who reflect on 
the preceding details, will readily acquiesce. 

In the budget of one thousand eight hun- 
dred and six, the sums paid over to the treasu- 
ry by the receivers, are stated at eight hundred 
and seventy-seven millions, one hundred and 
eighty-three thousand, five hundred and eigh- 
ty-one francs.* Besides these, a considerable 
amount is deposited separately by the admini- 
strations of the indirect taxes, and received 
from other quarters. The addition of this 
amount makes, according to the budget, one 
thousand one hundred and thirty-three mil- 
lions, two hundred and thirty-three thousand, 
six hundred and ninety-one francs,+ — for the 
whole receipts of the treasury at Paris during 
one thousand eight hundred and six. In this 
sum, however, are included about one hundred 

* P. 5. Etat. A. t P. 63 Etat. FF. 



168 

millions on account of arrears for the preceding 
"exercises." This amount is, at the same time, 
nearly balanced by that of such part of the taxes 
for one thousand eight hundred and six, as 
could not be collected within that year. I shall 
adopt at a low calculation the sum of one thou- 
sand and fifty millions of francs as the net reve- 
nue of one thousand eight hundred and six. 



In order to ascertain the whole amount of the 
burdens laid upon the people, which must, in 
every country, exceed the net revenue, — we 
must add various items to this sum of one thou- 
sand and fifty millions. 1st, The expenses of 
collection, which, if they reached fifty-eight 
millions under the old monarch, cannot at pre- 
sent fall short of one hundred and fifty millions, 
including the illegal exactions of the revenue 
officers. 2d, The taxes paid for local and de- 
partmental expenses amounting to at least one 
hundred millions ; — it being obviously the po- 
licy of the government to throw as heavy a load 
on the municipalities as possible* 3d, Another 



169 

one hundred millions for disbursements of a 
miscellaneous nature, such as the injuries sus- 
tained by judicial seizures, &c. Under this 
head I include the sums actually received into 
the treasury, — but suppressed in the budget 
for the convenience of the government. I have 
heard this surplus alone estimated by an intel- 
ligent member of the treasury department, at 
more than one hundred millions. The savings 
expended by the middling classes on their chil- 
dren, who are with the armies, in order to ren- 
der their situation more comfortable, may be 
considered as a heavy taxation. The sums paid 
to substitutes are to be viewed in the same 
light. A conscript who obtains asubstitute pays 
not only a gratuity to the latter, but an indem- 
nity to the government. In the year one thou- 
sand eight hundred, the indemnities yielded 
twelve millions of francs. The difficulty which 
exists at this moment, of obtaining proxies, has 
curtailed this branch of revenue, but has, at 
the same time, aggravated the most grievous 
of all impositions,— that of personal service. 
Reasoning from the above data, I shall not 



170 

hesitate to compute the whole amount of the 
public burdens of France at one thousand two 
hundred millions of francs — nearly sixty nut- 
lions sterling — and 1 am well satisfied that this 
estimate is much below the real amount. 



The minister of the treasury, in stating the 
sums paid over to his department by the re- 
ceivers during three months of one thousand 
eight hundred and five, and the whole of one 
thousand eight hundred and six, at nine hun- 
dred and eighty -six millions of francs, calcu- 
lates the expenses of that period at nine hun- 
dred and thirty-two millions— leaving a small 
balance in favour of the treasury. It is not easy 
to reconcile the existence, even of this balance, 
with an acknowledged defalcation of one hun- 
dred millions n the beginning of one thousand 
eight hundred and six — and it should be re- 
marked, moreover, that it is entirely forgotten 
in the estimate < >f the ways and means of the 
following year. I have had from persons in Pa- 
ris, who enjoy as ess to the most correct in- 
formation, positive evidence, that the nominal, 



171 

falls far short of the real expenditure. Inde- 
pendently of this testimony, there are con- 
siderations arising out of a view of the de- 
tailed statement of the minister of the trea- 
sury on this head which would leave the same 
conviction on my mind. 

In one thousand eight hundred, the sum 
demanded by the minister of police for the 
service of his department, included one million 
two hundred thousand francs for secret expense^ 
alone. It is not probable that he requires less 
at this moment for the same purpose ; but in 
the budget of one thousand eight hundred 
and seven, the totality of his expenses is put 
down at eight hundred and eighty-one thousand 
francs only ! In the year one thousand eight 
hundred, the minister of war also, called for 
four hundred and thirty-six millions when his 
establishment was less considerable than at 
present, and the harvest of foreign contribu- 
tions still more abundant. His expenses for 
one thousand eight hundred and six are stated 
at two hundred and ninety- three millions — a 



17 '2 

sum which bears no proportion to the real 
amount. 

It i$ not a little curious to remark, that in 
the time of the Directory, when the wants of 
the several departments of state were sub- 
mitted to the legislative bodies, the sum 
demanded by the departments collectively, 
was no less than nine hundred and twelve 
millions of francs. The consuls, on their ac- 
cession to power, pompously announced their 
intention of reducing this amount, for the 
following year, to four hundred and fifteen 
millions. It was understood, however, that 
they calculated upon foreign contributions to 
supply the deficiencies which might occur, 
Ramel observes, that it was thought by some 
" that it would be more prudent to rely upon 
"permanent and settled imposts, on account 
f of the possibility of a reverse of fortune, and 
"because a dependence upon such adventi- 
" tious aids, might generate the thirst of con- 
" quest. The government, however, believed 
"that the proofs which they had given of 



17S 

" their pacific intentions, authorized them to 
ff overlook these considerations, &c."* 

The disbursements of the department of 
foreign affairs are stated at something more 
than seven millions for the year eighteen hun- 
dred and six. In the time of Necker, they 
amounted to fourteen. Those who have attend- 
ed to the history of the foreign policy of the 
present ruler, will not he disposed to admit 
that the cost of the foreign office is less now 
than it was in the~ year seventeen hundred 
and eighty-nine. The appropriation made for 
the expenses of the imperial household, dur- 
ing the last year, was twenty-eight millions 
of francs : somewhat more than eleven hun- 
dred thousand pounds sterling. In this sum, 
three millions are included for the use of the 
princes. The expenses of the former court 
amounted to thirty-one millions of livres. The 
additional magnificence of the present esta- 
blishment, — the multitude of imperial palaces 

* P. 85, Hist, des Fin: 



174 

and parks. — and the liberal gratifications ap- 
plied to conciliate the zeal, and to reward the 
services, indispensable for the consolidation of 
anew throne, — would alone warrant the con- 
clusion that the imperial household is a much 
heavier charge on the nation, than the court of 
the Bourbons ever could have been* Whoever 
has witnessed the prodigality and rapacity of 
the princesand retainers of the new court, will 
not hesitate to believe that at least fifty millions 
are required for this branch of expenditure. 

The whole amount of the burdens of the 
people of France, before the revolution, was 
not, according to the calculation of Necker, 
more than five hundred and eighty-five mil- 
lions of livres. In the enumeration, which this 
writer makes, of the source of public power and 
wealth, at that period, he includes— an in- 
dustrious population of twenty -six millions, — 
flourishing manufactures, of the most lucrative 
kind, — opulent colonies, the annual products 
of which, imported into France, yielded not 
less than one hundred and twenty millions of 



175 

iivres, — a balance of trade, estimated at seven- 
ty millions, — an annual increase of forty mil- 
lions in the current specie, the whole amount 
of which nearly equalled that of al! the other 
states of Europe collective!} 7 ,* These advan- 
tages relieved the people, by furnishing the 
means of supporting their burdens. In every 
question of this kind, it is not merely the 
amount of the contributions paid to govern- 
ment, but the ability also to discharge them, 
which must be considered. Under the former 
government of France, taxes could not be ar- 
bitrarily imposed. The parliaments exercised 
a control over the court on this subject, — fre- 
quently intercepted the will of the monarch, — 
and finally defeated all the financial plans of 
the last ministers of Louis the Sixteenth. 

Let now the extent of the former burdens 
of France, be compared with those of the 
present day : — with fourteen hundred millions 
of francs levied upon a people deprived, in 

* Admin : des Fin ; vol. 3d, p, 407, 



176 

a great degree, of commerce and manufac- 
tures, the two most productive branches of 
income, and the springs which feed agricul- 
ture; — whom a long succession of foreign 
and domestic wars has impoverished beyond 
measure, while it has deranged their habits 
of industry, and corrupted their morals : — 
whose internal consumption is greatly dimi- 
nished : — much of whose specie is locked out 
of circulation : — whose government, equally 
rapacious and prodigal, is subject to no re- 
straint whatever in the imposition of taxes, 
and possesses at the same time the means of 
enforcing the collection of such as necessity 
or caprice may dictate. 

Those who will be at the trouble of exam- 
ining the various sources of revenue under the 
old government, will find that not one has been 
overlooked by the new rulers. The twentieths, 
the droits d* aide, or excise on wines and bran- 
dies, the gabelle and the disme, — from the sup- 
pression of which so much benefit was antici- 
pated by the Constituent Assembly, — have all 



177 

been revived under different names, but with 
an operation still more oppressive. If the cor* 
vees y — the evils of which were so much exag- 
gerated by the enemies of the old government, 
— no longer exist, — the labour to which the 
refractory conscripts are condemned on the high 
roads is at least an equivalent. The farmers- 
general who enjoyed but too large a share of 
the profits of the exchequer under the old 
monarchy, w T ere models of disinterestedness 
and frugality in comparison with the army 
contractors and court-bankers of the present 
day. The luxury of the former was productive 
and elegant. It nourished the fine arts and the 
useful manufactures:- — it displayed itself in the 
munificent patronage of men of science and of 
letters:— it contributed to advance the progress 
of national literature ; to promote the refine- 
ments of polished intercourse — and thus to 
uphold the solid glory and to multiply the 
social honours of the French name. 

The luxury of those whom the fortune of 
war and the wants of the armies have enriched 

z 



17S 

is equally devoid of taste and generosity. It 
is that of robbers, who observe neither order 
nor proportion in the dissipation of their for- 
tunes ; — who either squander with undistin- 
guishing profusion or hoard with sordid par- 
simony, the wealth which is suddenly and 
precariously acquired. While the treasure of 
the people is let out through innumerable 
orifices, it does not return to the proper ab- 
sorbents, — noi'perform the course which makes 
taxation a benefit in regular and civil monar- 
chies. The fruits of rapine in France are con- 
sumed in pampering the sensual appetites and 
gratifying the worst propensities of our nature. 
They circulate among the class of men who 
minister to the vices and passions of the great 
and increase the corruption by which they 
live.* 

* This distinction with regard to the different characters 
which luxury may assume, is happily explained by Sir 
James Steuart in his Political Economy — vol. 1. b. 2. ch; 
£f — See also on this head — Necker 3 Adminis; des Fin: 
™p. 111., vol. 3d* 



179 

In England the great hereditary and acquir- 
ed fortunes pervade and replenish tiie whole 
capillary system of the state. By means of a 
diffusive circulation, they quicken the emula- 
tion and reward the labours of every branch of 
industry. They are expended in the cultiva- 
tion of the soil and in the production of the 
solid materials of national wealth: — in the erec- 
tion and endowment of charitable institutions 
and public monuments, which foster the moral 
qualities and elevate the character. The spirit 
of beneficence and of patriotism which distin- 
guishes the opulent individuals of that coun- 
try, — and of which the same class in Fiance 
is wholly destitute, — returns to the needy the 
sums which they contribute to the exchequer, 
and corrects the inequalities of the divisions 
of property. 

The traveller in England has occasion to 
remark, — in all the departments of labour, — 
the beneficial influence of the example of the 
upper classes, and of that luxury which has for 
its object the productive toil and ingenuity of 



180 

man. The quick and equable transmission of 
wealth in the body politic is compared by a 
great writer* to the motion and agency of the 
blood, as it centers in the heart, and is thrown 
out by new pulsations. The aptitude of this il- 
lustration is particularly striking in his own 
country, where the rapid circulation of wealth, 
— the regular vibration of demand and labour, 
and the spirit of industry, animate the whole 
frame of society with an elasticity and vigour, 
such as belong to the human frame in its 
highest state of perfection. A peculiarly mas^ 
culine character, and the utmost energy of 
feeling are communicated to all orders of men, 
— by the abundance which prevails so univer- 
sally,— the consciousness of equal rights, — 
the fullness of power and fame to which the 
nation has attained, — and the beauty and 
robustness of the species under a climate highly 
favourable to the animal economy. The dig- 
nity of the rich is without insolence,— the 
subordination of the poor without servility* 
Their freedom is well guarded both from the 

* Sir James Steuart. 



181 

dangers of popular licentiousness, and from 
the encroachments of authority. — Their na- 
tional pride leads to national sympathy, 
and is built upon the most legitimate of ail 
foundations — a sense of preeminent merit and 
a body of illustrious annals. 

Whatever may be the representations of 
those who, with little knowledge of facte, 
and still less soundness or impartiality of judg- 
ment, — affect to deplore the condition of Eng- 
land, — it is nevertheless, true, that there does 
not exist and never has existed elsewhere, — so 
beautiful and perfect a model of public and 
private prosperity; — so magnificent, and at the 
same time, so solid a fabric of social happiness 
and national grandeurs I pay this just tribute 
of admiration with the more pleasure, as it is 
to me in the light of an atonement for the 
errors and prejudices, under which 1 laboured, 
on this subject, before I enjoyed the advantage 
of a personal experience. A residence of nearly 
two years in that country, — during which 
period, I visited and studied almost every part 
of it, — with no other view or pursuit than that 



182 

of obtaining correct information, and I may 
add, with previous studies well fitted to pro- 
mote my object, — convinced me that I had 
been egregiously deceived. 

I saw no instances of individual oppres- 
sion, and scarcely any individual misery but 
that which belongs, under any circumstances 
of our being, to the infirmity of all human 
institutions. — I witnessed no symptom of de- 
clining trade or of general discontent. On the 
contrary — I found there every indication of a 
state engaged in a rapid career of advancement. 
I found the art and spirit of commercial indus- 
try at their acme; — a metropolis opulent and 
liberal beyond example : — a cheerful peasan- 
try, well fed and commodiously lodged, — an 
ardent attachment to the constitution in all 
classes, and a full reliance on the national 
resources. — I found the utmost activity in 
agricultural and manufacturing labours ; — in 
the construction of works of embellishment 
and utility ;— in enlarging and beautifying the 
provincial cities. — I heard but few well found- 
ed complaints of the amount, — and none con* 



183 

cerning the collection, of the taxes. The 
demands of the state create no impediment to 
consumption or discouragement to industry. 
I could discover no instance in which they 
have operated to the serious distress or ruin of 
individuals. 

The riots at Manchester, which were here 
invested almost with the horrors of civil war, 
were scarcely noticed in London, and occa- 
sioned, I will venture to assert, not one 
moment of serious uneasiness either to the 
government, or to any part of the population 
of England beyond the immediate theatre of 
the alarm. Manufacturing employments ne- 
cessarily lead to some degree of individual 
wretchedness, and the fluctuations of trade, 
to a temporary languor in particular branches 
of work. Numerous associations of labourers 
suffering partially from these causes, may be 
easily roused to gusts of sedition, either by 
the excitement of their mutual complaints or 
the arts of factious demagogues. There is 
among the populace of every country a rank 



184 

luxuriance in this respect, which no authori- 
ty however beneficent — no position however 
fortunate, and no general spirit of obedience 
however cheerful, — can at all times repress. 
The disturbances at Manchester were quelled 
without an effusion of blood ; and the ring- 
leaders arraigned and punished in the common 
course of law, — without a movement or ex- 
pression in their favour on the part of the mob. 
The whole storm, which was here supposed to 
threaten the most serious consequences, was 
almost as harmless in its effects, and left as 
few traces behind, as the war of the elements 
raised by the wand of Prospero, or the thunder 
and lightning of Saddlers- Wells. Tumults of 
this kind in a country having so complicated a 
system of industry, are to be considered as 
arising from the distemperature of a particular 
atmosphere and season, and when so easily al- 
layed, — as indicative of the sound and health- 
ful vigour of the political constitution. Not 
long] both before and after the period of the 
outrages of which I speaky I surveyed atten- 
tively most of the manufacturing establish- 



185 

S 
merits and saw every reason to conclude that, 

— collectively taken, — they never were in a 

more flourishing condition, nor their tenants 

more loyally disposed. 

The agriculture of England is confessedly 
superior to that of any other part of the world, 
and the condition of those who are engaged in 
the cultivation of the soil, incontestably prefer- 
able to that of the same class in any other sec- 
tion of Europe. An inexhaustible source of 
admiration and delight is found in the unrival- 
led beauty, as well as richness and fruitful- 
nessof their husbandry; the effects of which are 
heightened by the magnificent parks and noble 
mansions of the opulent proprietors : by pictur- 
esque gardens upon the largest scale, and dis- 
posed with the most exquisite taste : and by go- 
thic remains no less admirable in their structure 
than venerable for their antiquity.* The neat 

* The animated description which Thomson gives 
of England in his beautiful poem of Liberty exhibits not 
only the eloquence of enthusiasm, but the strictness of 
historical truth : " Her 

2 A 



186 

cottage, the substantial farm-house, the splen- 
did villa, are constantly rising to the sight, sur- 
rounded by the most choice and poetical attri- 
butes of the landscape. The painter is there 
but a mere copyist. A picture of as much neat- 
ness, softness, and elegance, is exposed to the 
eye, as can be given to the imagination, by the 

" Her hearty fruits the hand of freedom own, 
" And warm with culture, her thick clustering fields 
<s Prolific teem. Eternal verdure crowns 
u Her meads; her gardens smile eternal spring, 
u She rears to freedom an undaunted race* 
f c Compatriot, zealous, hospitable, kind. 
*' She, whitening o'er her downs, diffusive, pours 
" Unnumbered flocks : She weaves the fleecy robe 
a That wraps the nations : She, to lusty droves, 
* The richest pasture spreads, and hers, deep wave 
41 Autumnal seas of pleasing plenty round. 
c ? These her delights. 

u Enlivening these, add cities full 
u Of wealth, of trade, of cheerful toiling crowds ; 
a Add thriving towns ; add villages and farms, 
a Innumerous sowed alon& the lively vale, 
" Where bold unrivalled peasants happy dwell ; 
u Add ancient seats with venerable oaks 
u EmbosonVd high, while kindred floods below 
u Wind through the mead ; and those of modern Land 
" More pompous, add, that splendid shine axar ? &c. 



187 

finest etching, or the most mellowed drawing. 
The vision is not more delightfully recreated 
by the rural scenery, than the moral sense is 
gratified, and the understanding elevated by 
the institutions of this great country. The 
first and continued exclamation of an Ameri- 
can who contemplates them with unbiassed 
judgment is— 

Salve magna Parens, frugum saturnia tellus 
Magna virum. 

It appears something not less than impious 
to desire the ruin of this people, when you 
view the height to which they have carried 
the comforts, the knowledge, and the virtue of 
our species : the extent and number of their 
foundations of charity; their skill in the me- 
chanic arts, by the improvement of which 
alone, they have conferred inestimable benefits 
on mankind ; the masculine morality, the lofty 
sense of independence, the sober and rational 
piety which are found in all classes ; their im- 
partial, decorous and able administration of a 
code of laws, than which none more just and 



188 

perfect has ever been in operation : — their se- 
minaries of education yielding more solid and 
profitable instruction than any other whatever : 
their eminence in literature and science — the 
urbanity and learning of their privileged or- 
ders,— their deliberative assemblies, illustra- 
ted by so many profound statesmen, and bril- 
liant orators. It is worse than ingratitude in us 
not to sympathize with them in their present 
struggle, when we recollect that it is from 
them we derive the principal merit of our own 
character — the best of our own institutions— 
the sources of our highest enjoyments— -and 
the light of freedom itself, which, if they 
should be destroyed, will not long shed its radi- 
ance over this country. 

The state of Fiance, as it fell under my ob- 
servation in one thousand eight hundred and 
seven, exhibited quite another perspective. — 
Combined with the evils which I have already 
had occasion to notice, various other causes 
conspired to heighten the national calamity,— * 
The extinction of all public spirit, and of the 



189 

influence of public opinion, — the depopulation 
and decay of the great towns, — the decline of 
agriculture and manufactures, — the stagnation 
of internal trade, — the stern dominion of a mi- 
litary police, — incessantly checked the exulta- 
tion, natural to the mind, on viewing the pro- 
fusion of bounties, with which the hand of Pro- 
vidence has gifted this fine region. The pres- 
sure of the taxes was aggravated by the most 
oppressive rigours in the collection. The pea- 
sant or farmer who was delinquent in paying 
his taxes, had a file of soldiers, under the name 
of garnisers y quartered upon him, who consu- 
med the fruits of his industry, as a compensa- 
tion for the loss sustained by the state. The 
grape, in numberless instances, was permitted 
to rot on the vine, in consequence of the ina- 
bility of the proprietor either to dispose of his 
wine when made, or to discharge the imposts 
levied upon every stage of the process of mak- 
ing it. I was credibly informed that families 
were frequently compelled to relinquish their 
separate establishments, and to associate in 



190 

their domestic economy, in order to lighten, 
by dividing the burden of the taxes. 

The effects of the loss of external trade were 
every where visible :— in the commercial cities 
half deserted, and reduced to a state of inac- 
tion and gloom truly deplorable : — in the inland 
towns, in which the populace is eminently 
wretched, and where I saw not one indication 
of improvement, but on the contrary, num- 
bers of edifices falling to ruins :— on the high 
roads, where the infrequency of vehicles and 
travellers denoted but too strongly the decrease 
of internal consumption, and the languor of in- 
ternal trade ; and among the inhabitants of the 
country,- — particularly of the south, — whose 
poverty is extreme, in consequence of the ex- 
orbitant taxes, and of the want of an outlet 
for their surplus produce. In one thousand 
eight hundred and seven the number of men- 
dicants in the inland towns was almost incredi- 
ble. The condition of the peasantry, as to their 
food, clothing and habitations, bore no com* 
parison with the state of the same class in 
^England. 



191 

The conscription, while it has chased war 
from the confines, has, nevertheless, carried 
the keenest pangs and many of the worst evils 
which war entails, into the bosom of every 
dwelling of the empire. It has vitiated the agri- 
cultural manners of France, the purity and vi- 
vacity of which were so much the delight of 
the traveller before the revolution. The feudal 
vassalage never exerted an influence half as per- 
nicious, over the spirit and satisfactions of the 
lower classes. The anarchy of the revolution 
relaxed the springs of industry, and, in de- 
stroying the influence, banished the consola* 
tioos of religion. The present government has 
neither strengthened the one, nor restored the 
other; and by the example of an habitual 
violation of all law, has extinguished every 
trace of respect for the civil authority. 

The abolition of the feudal tenures was a cir- 
cumstance highly favourable to the agriculture 
of France, and would have contributed materi- 
ally to its advancement, had not the genius of 
the present government counteracted its ten* 



192 

dency. The first spring of industry is the cer- 
tainty of enjoying its fruits. Capital is essential 
to the prosperity of agriculture in France : but 
the few capitalists who remain in the provincial 
cities and in the country, are too prudent to ex- 
pend their wealth in the cultivation of large 
estates, which may be at any moment, wrested 
from them, by a new revolution, or by the ra- 
pacity of their rulers. The great proprietors, as 
has been already mentioned, are few in number. 
They, together with the monied men, reside 
chiefly in the metropolis, and are wholly inat- 
tentive to agricultural pursuits. Their fortunes 
flow from them through channels which con- 
vey but little aliment to the labours of the far- 
mer, I scarcely remarked a single landholder of 
any consequence, engaged in tilling on a large 
and prospective plan, or even applying his sur- 
plus income to the embellishment of his grounds. 
From these and various other causes, agricul- 
ture languishes in almost every part of the em- 
pire. In one thousand eight hundred and seven, 
the fields were principally cultivated by wo- 
men : — the long succession of wars having 



193 

swept away that male population, which, under 
the auspices of a pacific government, would 
now have been the instrument of an unequalled 
production of the best fruits of the earth.* Bo- 

* Peuchet, in speaking of the influence of the revolution 
on the agriculture of France, enumerates, among the causes 
which have operated prejudicially, the diminution of the re- 
lathe male population in several departments, owing partly to 
thehavo c made by the armies — (les ravages exerces par les 
ermeesj " et la guerre, qui enleve continuellement des bras 
" aux travaux et des chefs jeunes et actifs qui sont le soutie* 
g f et V espoir des families" " Cest Men plus/' he adds? ff dans 
" les fabriques, les comptoirs, les sciences, les arts qui exigent 
if des etudes, que se font sentir les suites des levees milit aires: 
u suites morales qui troublent le bonheur des families, le repos 
** de la societe, et les motifs de se former un etat" (Statis- 
u tique de la France, p. 2/9.) These sentiments so hazard- 
ous for the writer, seem to be wrung from him by an over* 
powering sense of the public calamity. Although the mili- 
tary population of France, is greatly diminished, it appears 
certain that the Numerical has been on the increase. This 
effect is traced by their statistical writers, to the early mar- 
riages occasioned by the military requisitions before the 
year ninety-eight — to the astonishing number of natural 
children, even now in the cities in the proportion of one- 
sixth of the legitimate births, — to the suppression of con- 
Tents, — to the naval supremacy of the British, which pre- 
vents emigration by sea, and retains at home their ma*i* 



• 



194 

naparte pursues to the utmost possible extent, 
a policy recommended by all military experi- 
ence; — that of drawing his supplies of men from 
the agricultural class. # The few of his victims 
who return, indolent in habits and dissolute in 
morals, are wholly disqualified for the plough, 
and only serve to spread the contagion of the 
vices which they contract in the camp. 

When the connexion between foreign trade 
and manufactures is considered, it may be easi- 
ly understood that those of France are in a 
much less flourishing state than before the revo- 
lution. Lyons, alone, of all the manufacturing 
cities, displays some considerable activity, but 
even there, a great disparity is remarked be- 
tween her present and former condition. In the 
year one thousand; seven hundred and eighty- 

time population,— to the extinction of the monkish orders, 
and to a prodigious diminution in the number of male do- 
mestics. This seeiriing paradox is satisfactorily explained 
by Malthus, in the chapters which he has dedicated to an 
examjnatipn of (t The Checks to Population in France/* 
and 'f among the Romans." See Essay on Population^ 
t>. 1st. ch. 14, and b. 2d. ch. 6th. 

* See on, this subject, Machiayelli, Art de la Guerra* 
lib. cap c 6, 



195 
eight, the number of workmen employed in 
that city was fifty-eight thousand five hundred, 
and the number of looms was estimated at four- 
teen thousand seven hundred and seventy-seven. 
In one thousand eight hundred and one^ there 
were but seven thousand looms and many of 
them were unemployed.* Since that period 
there has been an alternate rise and depression, 
but no material increase. The causes of the 
slow progress of the manufactures lie deep hi 
the whole system of the imperial government, 
and cannot be removed until a settled foreign 
market is opened,— until the conveniences fpr 
inland trade are multiplied, and until domestic 
consumption is increased, by the encourage- 
ment of every branch of industry. The disease 
is not topical, but symptomatic— and not to 
be remedied by the mere distribution of premi- 
ums for the best specimens in the arts — or the 
creation of societies for their encouragement f 

* Peuchet Statisque, p. 413. 

f The government has established in Paris a biennial 
exhibition of specimens from all the manufactures of the 
empire. In one thousand eight hundred and six* the 
Charnp de Mars and one of the public edifices in the neigh-* 



*§6 

I have noticed among intelligent persons 
both in this country and in England, a belief, 
that the burden of the taxes is more oppressive 
in the latter than France. The details which I 
have already given are sufficient to refute this 
error, — but it may not be improper to suggest 
a few additional remarks on this subject. In 
England the mass of national wealth is much 

bourhood, were allotted to the manufacturers, who were 
permitted to dispose of their specimens, after the public 
curiosity was gratified. Premiums were distributed ac- 
cording to the decision of a certain number of judges ap- 
pointed to decide on the merit of their work. The display 
was gorgeous, but by no means indicative of the prosperity 
of the manufactures. Several of the manufacturers, whom 
I complimented on the beauty of their workmanship, re- 
plied that it was in fact but a proof of their misery, as it 
denoted the want of a more profitable occupation. They 
added, that a state of peace, by giving them constant em- 
ployment, would have prevented them from bringing arti- 
cles of mere luxury to the degree of perfection which I so 
much admired. I could not but remark at this exhibition 
the spirit of adulation which was visible on all sides. Like- 
nesses of Bonaparte and the Imperial family were to be 
found in almost every possible material, even in Brussels lace! 

Ol p. 322. 



197 

greater than in France. The annual amount of 
the taxable means of the former beyond those 
of France may be estimated at sixty millions 
sterling. The public revenue is between sixty 
and seventy millions. A large portion of it is 
expended in the discharge of a national debt 
to native creditors, who pay back largely to the 
exchequer; and the whole is rapidly restored 
to domestic circulation. Even on the supposi- 
tion, that the amount of taxable income were 
equal in both countries, the difference of popu- 
lation, and the greater inequality of fortunes in 
England, would create a more considerable 
mass of superfluous wealth in the hands of in- 
dividuals — and might yet leave untouched an 
•ample provision of necessaries with the people. 
The surplus of taxable means in England 
above those of France, may then be considered 
as superfluous wealth. But it is an admitted 
principle in experimental finance — that the li- 
mits of taxation on superfluities are almost in- 
definite. The amount which may be levied up- 
on them increases in a geometrical ratio with 
their mass. It is more easy for a nation to 



198 

yield fifty millions from one hundred of super- 
fluous wealth than ten from fifty, &c> 

Sir Francis DTvernois, observes— in his 
u Historical Survey,"* where this topic is well 
explained, " that it is owing to the taxable 
" income of the English nation having trebled 
" within the last century, that under George 
" III. they are able to pay ten times as much 
" in taxes, and yet have greater means of en- 
" joyment, — than in the time of William III. 
" who levied only one tenth of the present 
" amount of taxes, on an income equal to one 
" third of that of the present day." It may be 
easily seen from what I have stated, that the 
distribution of the taxable means of France 
among a numerous population, only serves to 
jender the burden of the taxes more oppres- 
sive, as it leaves, on that account but a 
smaller fund of superfluous wealth. The 
equal division of property as I have before sug- 
gested, aggravates this evil, — while it sensibly 

* P. 259. ' -2 



199 

affects the agriculture of the country, — the 
great source of the national wealth. Sir James 
Steuart* and Arthur Young both complain of 
the number of small proprietors as an impedi- 
ment to the progress of agriculture before the 
revolution. The increase of this class, who 
are unable to farm with a view to future or 
distant advantage, has materially diminished 
the surplus product of the soil, — and conse- 
quently the means of satisfying the demands 
of the treasury. 

The people of England have to congratulate 
themselves not only upon their ability to sus- 
tain their present burdens, but upon the am* 
pie resources which are open to them for futu- 
rity. A nation whose commercial prosperity 
is so high, may count upon a constant accu- 
mulation of capital, which will enable her to 
meet any extraordinary emergencies with ex- 
traordinary supplies. But in consequence of 
the admirable organization of her financial 

* Political Economy, vol, i. b. i. ch. 14, 



200 
system, scarcely any emergency can occur, 
in the regular course of events, which will 
call for a considerable addition to her burdens. 
On this subject I refer to the plan of finance 
submitted to the house of commons by Lord 
Henry Petty, when chancellor of the exche- 
quer, and which we have both read with so 
much satisfaction. This exposition of the ac- 
tual and future means of England is calculat- 
ed to infuse the fullest confidence into the na- 
tion, and does infinite credit to the great par- 
liamentary and financial talents of that distin- 
guished nobleman. It unfolds a mass of re- 
sources, not depending upon precarious cir- 
cumstances, but the stable and permanent 
fruits of wisdom, order and industry, — which 
satisfactorily refutes the representations of 
those, who, either too indolent to examine, or 
too prejudiced to believe the extent of the 
wealth and energies of the British, — antici- 
pate the ruin of England from the continued 
and aggravated pressure of taxation. 

The statement of Lord Henry Petty proves 



201 

undeniably, — that as long as the British go- 
vernment continues to exercise even ordinary 
judgment and foresight, the means of continu- 
ing the war must superabound : — that until the 
year eighteen hundred and eleven, the con- 
test may be maintained without the imposition 
of new burdens: — for the ten years immediately 
following, by the imposition of such only as 
will be required to provide interests for small 
supplementary loans : — for the ten succeeding 
years, without the imposition of any new taxes 
whatever. According to the same statement, 
the fixed course adopted for the gradual re- 
demption of the public debt will be eminently 
successful. The sinking fund, — in an improv- 
ed state and guarded against any partial ope- 
ration, — must answer all the purposes of its 
creation. Every view- of the future justifies 
the supposition of the orator, that this fund, 
which was in 1807, but 8,335,000/. sterling, 
will, — at the close of the first period of ten 
years mentioned above, amount to 22,720,000 L 
sterling. These calculations are founded upon 

the experience of the past, — upon the pre- 

2 c 



202 

sumption of means for the future, which the 
country has already furnished; — upon causes 
already ascertained to be sure and steady in 
their operation. X am well satisfied that the 
British government will be seconded in the 
application of these resources by the inflexible 
courage and patriotic spirit of the people. 
There is scarcely a person of intelligence in 
England, who does not concur, at this mo- 
ment, in the opinion expressed in this plan, — - 
" that chimerical notions may be formed, 
" and eager hopes entertained, — but no man 
" arguing upon rational principles can come to 
" any conclusion, as to the period at which 
<c peace may be restored." These hopes and 
notions have now disappeared from the serious 
reasonings of those who were formerly most 
sanguine, with regard to this event. They are 
convinced that they have to contend with a foe 
equally insatiable and implacable; from whose 
very existence the lust of plunder, the vanity 
of conquest, and the thirst of blood are al* 
together inseparable :— but they are also well 
assured, that their subjugation will never be 



203 

effected by the failure of their pecuniary re- 
sources or the decline of their courage. 

The interior of the French empire affords 
no promise of the possibility of collecting here- 
after a more abundant revenue, than that which 
is now wrung from the people. The pressure of 
their actual burdens obstructs the growth of 
future resources, and nothing can be expect- 
ed from the spontaneous generosity, or mag- 
nanimous patriotism, of the subjects of a mili- 
tary despot. Gentz, who had attentively stu- 
died the financial system of the imperial govern- 
ment of France, speaks of it, in the year eighteen 
hundred and six, as " a machine wound up to 
" such a pitch as almost to make its springs 
" crack." I am well satisfied, from my own 
observation, of the accuracy of this opinion. 
The French people are absolutely saturated 
with taxes. Their means would be altogether 
inadequate to the entire support of the immense 
armies iti the pay of the government. The pub- 
lic expences are more than equal to the revenue 
which is drawn from the interior of the empire. 



204 

Foreign booty, therefore, as I have before sug- 
gested, is a necessary resource, in order to ena- 
ble the government to support the armies with 
which its own existence is indissoiubly con- 
nected. This consideration opens an important 
view of the character of the imperial govern- 
ment, — and, at the same time, a most discou- 
raging prospect for the continent— when we 
consider the force of the principles upon which 
the French military system is established. No 
peace can be expected, until France herself 
can yield a revenue to the imperial exchequer, 
sufficient both for the maintenance of her 
armies, and the charges of her vast domestic 
establishment ; or until whatever spoil yet re- 
mains on the continent, shall be either forcibly 
ravished or tamely surrendered. Her rulers 
must, of necessity, wrest from the nations 
abroad that food for the troops which cannot 
be found at home. They will march over the 
continent, striking down, with a gigantic arm, 
whatever opposes itself to the gratification of 
their wants, — exhausting the resources of the 
present^ and defeating* the hopes of the future, 



205 

— trampling under foot the liberties, the insti- 
tutions, and the enjoyments, of every country, 
through which they pass, or in which they 
may be stationed. The continent of Europe 
appears to me to be threatened with calamities 
not less disastrous than those which accompa- 
nied the last agonies of the Roman power. It 
was the boast of the Hun Attila, that " no grau 
" ever grew" where his foot once trod. It is 
the passion of the ferocious conqueror of the 
present day, that no generous or independent 
feeling shall flourish within the baleful glare of 
his sceptre. The fruits of industry constitute his 
natural prey, as well as the riches of nature and 
the most venerable fabrics of human policy.— 

Metuenda colonis 
Fertilitas. Laribus pellit, detrudit avitis 
Finibus, aut aufert vivis aut occupat haeres. 
Congestae cumulantur opes — orbisq : rapinas 
Accipit una domus, populi servire coacti, &c. 

Claudianin Ruf: lib. 2, I. 191. 

The French rulers, so far from encouraging 
that kind of industry which promotes the ease 



206 

and wealth of the lower classes, must regulate 
their administration by principles of a tenden- 
cy directly opposite- Wealth will give power 
wherever it is lodged. To throw any share of 
power into the hands of the people is adverse 
to the fundamental policy of Bonaparte. A 
wealthy populace,grown strong by the pursuits 
of trade and industry, broke their chains two 
centuries ago, and demolished the feudal sy$* 
tern. The swelling of the middle classes, from 
the same cause, beyond their proper size, as 
Mr. Burke has expressed it, contributed mate- 
rially to the subversion of the old government 
of France. Hereditary subordination, without 
an equality of rights, could not long endure* 
when the relative position of the different 
classes of the community was entirely changed. 
Arbitrary dependence among individuals, or 
absolute despotism in a government, is incom- 
patible with the regular accumulation of 
wealth, by industrious pursuits, in the hands 
of the lower orders. The sense of pecuniary 
independence, produces energy of character, 
and an impatience of servitude. A bold and 



207 
jealous people have it in their power, and 
rarely want the inclination, to break down 
the barriers of privilege, — and to shake off 
the yoke of an arbitrary sovereign. 

Bonaparte has not overlooked the lessons 
which the experience of the two last centuries 
teaches on this subject. He is sensible, that the 
constitution of his government could not long 
subsist unless the lower classes were retained 
m a state of impoverishment. The imposition 
of taxes, to the utmost extent of their ability, 
is useful to work this effect, which the equal 
division of property contributes also to pro- 
mote. The more oppressive the weight and 
the more vexatious the collection of the taxes, 
the greater will be the misery and the more 
servile the spirit of the people. His armies 
will be more easily recruited, and the vexations 
of a military despotism encounter less resist- 
ance, from an abject and necessitous popula- 
tion. France, enjoying so great a variety of cli- 
mate, and such fertility of soil, may always, 
with a small degree of domestic industry, fur- 



208 

nish what will be sufficient for the splendourof 
the imperial court, and the expenses of inter- 
nal administration. Foreign contributions will 
maintain his armies and reward his generals 
and favourites, — who form the immediate vas- 
salage, and the strong ramparts of the crown. 
It is his policy, moreover, to create, at the ex- 
pense of the lower classes, a monied interest 
near the throne, with whom he deposits, for the 
possible exigencies of the future, that fund of 
wealth, which, as I have before observed, he 
cannot, by the encouragement of industry, 
suffer to accumulate in the hands of the people, 
without forming a power dangerous, and a 
spirit repugnant, to the genius of his system. 

If it be the object ofthe present ruler of France 
to establish a permanent despotisn) at home 
and an universal empire abroad, he will aim at 
the most absolute simplicity in his institutions, 
All must converge to one point ;— the creation 
of a military spirit and military means. If 
he permitted the state to thrive by the conse- 
quences of industry — his domestic power 



209 

would be endangered, — or its character un- 
dergo a radical change. He would render the 
mechanism of his administration so complex 
as to divide his strength and attention, and 
thus to frustrate his scheme of foreign con- 
quest. The view which I have taken of the 
situation of the French republic at the com- 
mencement of the revolution, may serve to 
render the ideas I now suggest/ the more intel- 
ligible. The simple forms of policy, such as 
the Lacedemonian and Roman, which, — by 
proscribing all branches of industry, — created 
the desire as well as the necessity of incessant 
war, — are by far the most firm and lasting. 
The same character of permanence has distin- 
guished the oriental despotism of the present 
day, which tolerate no such industrious pur- 
suits as might enrich the mass of the people. 

These considerations are urged principally 
with a view to elucidate a topic of the highest 
importance to this country.-—/ mean the deter- 
mined hostility of Bonaparte to commerce under 
any shape. He is both from policy and temper, 
2 D 



210 

an enemy to the whole modern system of pub- 
lic economy, of which trade is the leading fea- 
ture. This inference — to which his character 
as a conqueror and a military despot naturally 
leads, — is confirmed by the scope of all his 
actions, aud the tenor of all his discourses. 
Trade is the nutriment of every branch of 
industry, the consequences of which, as I 
have stated above, are so opposite to the 
genius and view of the French government. 
To the influence of commerce we owe that 
mild revolution, which banished the fierceness 
the turbulence, the darkness and the "iron 
slavery" of the feudal times, and substitut- 
ed the social virtues — the lights of science — - 
the liberal feelings and the gentle subordination 
of freedom.* The modern aspect of the con- 
tinent upon which the philosophic eye was 
accustomed to dwell with so much delight, 

* See on this subject Mr. Burke's first letter on the Re- 
gicide Peace.— Gibben, Dec. and Fall, concluding chapter 
6th vol. — and particularly the admirable dissertation 
which Dr. Robertson has prefixed to his History ©f 
Charles V, 



211 

must be sensibly altered, before it can remain 
quiescent under the yoke of a single power. 
In France, particularly, the minds of men 
must be moulded to other habits and enjoy- 
ments, and turned to other objects of admira- 
tion and desire, than those which are insepa- 
rable from the pursuits of trade, — before they 
can be properly qualified to retain the vast 
dominion which they are now fighting to 
acquire. 

It is but natural that a being who delights 
in war and rapine, — whose sole passion is mi- 
litary fame, — and who recognizes no other 
system of government than an austere and 
jealous tyranny, # — should hate the commer- 
cial character. The pursuits of commerce lead 
to the cultivation of the arts of peace, and to 
habits of liberal and useful research. They 
tend to soften and refine the manners, and to 

* See his celebrated letter to the Prince of Austurias 
— wherein he declares that the people of every country 
must hate their government, and can only be retained in 
fcheir allegiance by the influence of fear. 



212 

promote the virtues of humanity. They en- 
large the understanding, and fortify the moral 
qualities. They generate a spirit of tolerance, 
and form a solid character of clear, sagacious 
sense, destructive to the frivolity and to the 
prejudices, without which despotism cannot 
exist. All these effects — which are more or 
less visible in the history of every commercial 
nation, — militate directly against the personal 
character, the domestic power and the foreign 
policy of Bonaparte. The pursuits of trade 
entail another consequence still more offensive. 
They invariably produce a spirit of indepen- 
dence, and a warm attachment to civil liberty. 
The habits of activity to which they lead, — the 
latitude of converse with mankind, the oppor- 
tunities of comparison and the means of 
enjoyment which they afford,— quicken the 
perception of injustice and strengthen the love 
of freedom coeval with the mind. I have had 
occasion to observe among the body of mer- 
chants every where — particularly in England 
and in this country, — a jealousy with regard 
to natural rights, — an hatred for oppres- 



213 

sion — a love of order, — and a sound and tem- 
perate judgment on questions of government, 
— more remarkable, I think, than in any other 
description of men collectively taken. It may 
be asserted that no government purely arbi- 
trary can ever be established or long endure, 
in a country where commerce is tolerated, or 
protected upon a large and liberal plan. 

The British are detested by Bonaparte, not 
merely as political enemies, but as a commer- 
cial people. Under the pretence of contending 
for the liberty of the seas — he aims his blows 
at the spirit of commerce and at the admira- 
ble constitution which it strengthens and de- 
fends. In waging war against the commerce 
of England it is not merely her destruction 
that he meditates. He is almost as forcibly im- 
pelled by his desire to extinguish the whole 
trading economy of the world, which, without 
England, — the spring and soul of the system, 
— must soon disappear.* In sealing up so 

* See Gentz— State of Europe, p. 342, 343, &c for the 
character and utility of England as the principal mem- 



214 

industriously the ports of the continent, he has 
it in view not merely to diminish the profits of 

ber of the commercial world, — His observations relative to 
her manufactures, may be read with profit by an American 
politician. Some of them deserve to be quoted : " It is 
u every man's interest, which no one will mistake (if left to 
"himself) to purchase articles of merchandise at a lower 
** price in another country, rather than pay dearer for the 
" same productions at home ; and the advantage is im- 
" mense when he can procure them at once better and 
iC cheaper from a foreigner than from his own countrymen. 
u The gains of all the individuals constitute the advantage 
" of the whole community. The true interest of a nation 
" is always to supply its several wants by the smallest pos- 
a sible expense of labour and capital. The greater its eco- 
a nomy in these respects the more wants will it be able to 
u satisfy, and the greater will be the surplus to be applied 
u in augmentation of its positive wealth, and towards the 
" furtherance of its productive powers. When the foreign 
* ' commerce of a nation ia governed by these principles 
c4 (and they are its only groundwork in the natural course 
11 of things), it is always beneficial and productive. Th« 
"interest of particular classes may sometimes be at variance 
" with them ; but the advantage of the whole (even of the 
" individuals of those very classes, when considered as a 
H part of the general mass) is inseparably connected with 
* them. Manufacturers and tradesmen, and statesmen who 



215 

British trade, but to prevent the revival of that 
spirit which springs from commercial inter- 
course, and the introduction, — through pam- 
phlets and newspapers — of feelings and princi- 
ples, — the currency of which would obstruct 
the execution of his plans. There would be 
more danger to the extension and perpetuity 
of his power from the moral and physical 
energies which an active commerce might pro- 
duce, — than from the fiercest resentment to 

tl listen to them, may continue to imagine that a nation is 
u impoverished by receiving the manufactures of another ; 
"but unprejudiced sense will suspect (and a true know- 
* ledge of the sources of general wealth will confirm it) 
" that every branch of trade, be it where it will, if produc- 
" ed by an actual improvement of human industry, is 
" beneficial to every nation concerned,— as well to the pur- 
" chasers as to the sellers. Manufacturers and tradesmen, 
u and statesmen influenced by them, first raised the present 
u clamour about the dependence of Europe and the ascen- 
" dant of British industry; the political enemies of England 
" eagerly took advantage of a clamour so welcome to them ; 
u what the former had only termed dependence, the latter 
11 inveighed against as an intolerable yoke ; what those only 
u deplored as a lamentable error, these writers described as 
a the last degree of weakness and abasement/' &c, 



216 

which the continent can be roused against 
him by the miseries incident to the privation 
of trade. 

In all the official acts of the French govern- 
ment on thesubject of commerce, thereismuch 
parade about the interest which it excites in the 
mind of the imperial ruler. The assurances of 
his unremitting solicitude are loud and solemn, 
just in the degree that they are insincere and 
unproductive. In order to wear the semblance 
of sincerity, he has caused a commercial code 
to be framed, which embraces the usual topics 
of commercial legislation. The provisions of 
this code descend to the most minute details, 
and are in many parts highly objectionable* 
They are, however, chiefly drawn from the or- 
donnance of one thousand six hundred and 
sixty-eight, and have the merit of a better me- 
thod, and greater perspicuity. The preliminary 
discourses of the orators of the government 
are somewhat remarkable, inasmuch as they 
betray the sanje pruriency of dominion, which 
shows itself in all their proceedings, and give 



217 

some ominous hints to those, who rely upon 
the agency of the French government in vindi- 
cating the liberty of the seas. The commer- 
cial code is announced as destined u to enjoy 
" an universal influence, and to become the 
" maritime law of Europe/ ' It is to be confer- 
red, together zvith the whole Napoleon code, as 
a benefit on the allies and neighbours of 
France, — and to be the tC common ju v ispru- 
fi. dence of all the nations, whose interest at- 
" taches them to the French system of federa- 
" tion and alliance. ,f * This annunciation of the 
generous intentions of the Emperor, is accom- 
panied by bitter invectives against the tyrants of 

* c< II est enfin d'une haute importance que le code de 
" commerce de TEmpire Francois soit redige dans des 
" principes qui lui preparer] t une influence universelle." 
" — Le travail d'une loi nouvelle destinee a donner le code 
u commercial a V Europe." " Lemonde, F Empire Franqois 
" da moins — devra au genie vengeur du droit des gens, 
" le bienfait d'un acte de navigation, que des ministres 
" san pudeur ne feront plus dechirer par un peuple de 
" pirates, La France aura un code, qu'elle pourra, comme 
" le Code Napoleon, donner comme un bienfait a ses 
u voisins, a ses allies, &c. Le Code que vous aurez adopte 
<e deviendra le droit commun de l'Europe, &c" 

2 E 



218 

the ocean, who are stigmatized as a nation of 
pirates, instigated by a shameless ministry, to 
usurp the right of legislating for the world ! 

The people of France cannot, however, mis- 
take the real dispositions of their government 
with regard to commerce. The miserable rem- 
nant which survived in one thousand eight hun- 
dred and seven, was daily loaded with new im- 
posts and restrictions, which deranged the cal- 
culations, and consumed the profits of the mer- 
chant. The latter was not deluded by the pro- 
mise that commerce was to be free and favour- 
ed, when peace should be restored. He was 
rendered but too sensible of the temper of his 
rulers by the contempt in which they openly 
held his profession. Every remonstrance or so- 
licitation made to the government, by the indi- 
vidual or his class, was repelled with a degree 
of contumely, which was a sufficient indication 
of the feelings which trade in general excited. 
Notwithstanding the tenor of the official decla- 
rations of the government, the imperial ruler 
has been unable, in several instances, to refrain 



^19 

from expressing the hatred and contempt which 
he feels for trade. He told a depuration of mer- 
chants at Hamburgh that he detested com- 
merce and all its concerns. He has held the 
same language to his own subjects on various 
occasions. I know not how it is possible tg 
misconceive either his natural antipathies, or his 
systematic policy on this head. We have seen 
him laboriously engaged for the last two years, 
in excluding commerce from his own ports, 
and sealing up hermetically every other within 
the reach of his influence. When he attempted 
by a mode apparently so ridiculous as t\\e Berlia 
decree, to excommunicate the British from the 
pale of nations, the impoverishment of their 
trade was not, I am well convinced, his chief ob- 
ject. The decree was enacted with a view to 
induce measures of retaliation on the part of 
Great Britain, and thus to provide the physical 
means which he wanted for destroying the com- 
merce of the continent. 



220 

During a residence of ten months in Paris 
I was naturally prompted to investigate with 
particular diligence, the dispositions of the 
French- government towards our own country. 
I was much in the society, and enjoyed the 
confidence of persons, whose contiguity to the 
throne, and whose political stations and con- 
nexions, opened to them all the avenues of cor- 
rect information. Situated as they are, a dis- 
closure of the private facts and motives upon 
which their opinions were grounded, would be 
an undertaking of great delicacy, and might 
be productive of some hazard to meritorious 
individuals. I shall, however, say as much on 
this important topic as prudence will allow, 
and as my own personal observation enables 
me to state. Whoever has resided in the French 
metropolis, and studied the character of the 
French rulers for any length of time, must 
know that their antipathies and views are not 
to be collected from their official communica- 
tions, until their plans are ripe for execution. 
The unpremeditated or cursory language of in- 



221 

dividuals in office, the tenor of private discourses 
from persons of authority, and the composition 
and general policy of the government when at- 
tentively considered, are the surest criterions for 
the judgment. 

Since the commencement of the revolution, 
the dispositions of the French government have 
been at no time favourable to this country. We 
can all recollect the conduct of the Directory — 
and should also remember that many of the 
men who then swayed the American politics of 
France, now form a part of her national coun- 
cils. Nothing, certainly, has since occurred to 
allay the enmity and contempt which were then 
so openly displayed. On the contrary, circum- 
stances have intervened, of a tendency directly 
the reverse. The chief of these are — 1st, The 
increased animosity of the French rulers against 
the British, with whom we are, in this respect, 
constantly identified, notwithstanding our ef- 
forts to convince the world that neither our 
mental affinities nor our elective affections war- 



222 

rant the association. 2d, The irritation excit- 
ed in the mind of the Emperor of France by 
the resistance of the people of this country, to 
his plan of leaguing them with himself in his 
war against England. The importance of this 
object must be apparent. The disappoint- 
ment, therefore, was particularly calculated 
to inflame his anger. Nothings — I am well 
convinced, — but the hope that this end might 
be finally accomplished, either by the fears of 
our cabinet — or the infatuation of the British 
ministry,— has restrained him from coming 
to an open rupture with us. — The forma- 
tion of an imperial government in France 
was but ill fated to conciliate benevolence 
towards a country enjoying popular institu-. 
tions. The imperial despot proclaims and mani- 
fests, on all occasions, his contempt and de- 
testation for republics. He has assailed and 
beaten them down wherever they came within 
the range of his power j not incidentally, but 
directly, and with all the zeal of fanaticism. 
His aversion is not that which may naturally 



223 

arise out of opposite forms of government, but 
it is a malignant hatred to the spirit of liberty : 
— an abhorrence of the example of a free go- 
vernment: — a sort of missionary fury, which 
would banish the adverse creed — not only from 
the immediate theatre of his owil dogmas, 
but from the face of the earth. After having, 
in Europe, contracted the reign of indepen- 
dence to the narrow span of England— he can- 
not bear to see it diffused over this hemisphere. 
There should be, in governments, a political, 
as there is, in animals,— a natural instinct to 
know an enemy:— a political, as well as natu- 
ral self-love, to sharpen our discernment, and 
to deter us from drawing close to a power 
which sheds an influence as fatal to republics, 
as that of the Upas tree to animal life. We 
should intuitively shun the one with as much 
care as the traveller avoids the other. We can- 
not mistake this man for our friend, and as we 
consider our popular institutions as the first of 
blessings, we should deprecate his alliance as 
the most formidable of evils. For us, as well as 



224 

for every other country, either opulent or free, 
the danger is the same, 

Terrarum fatale malum, fulmenq ; quod omnes 
Percuteret pariter populos, et sidus iniquum 
Gentibus*. 

The inferences which I drew from the above 
general considerations, were early confirmed in 
my mind, during my residence in Paris, by the 
most positive testimony. I heard, from every 
man both in and out of office, who had any inti- 
mate connexion with the government, the same 
language of contempt and menace on the sub- 
ject of the United States. The peculiar phraseo- 
logy was — " that we were a nation of fraudu- 
" lent shopkeepers, — British in prejudices and 
u predilections, and equally objects of aversion 
" to the Emperor, who had taken a fixed deter- 
" mination to bring us to reason in due time." 
It was universally understood, that our slug- 
gishness in acceding to all his wishes j — the 
bold strictures, in which we sometimes in- 

* Lucan, lib. ix. 



225 

dulge, concerning his character and conduct — 
and the nature of our institutions ; — were in- 
expiable offences, —and to be finally retributed 
by the full weight of his resentment. The Bri- 
tish he hates, — and dreads, — and respects. The 
people of this country he detests and despises. 
He detests us as the progeny of the British — 
and as the citizens of a free government. He 
despises us as a body of traders, — according to 
his view, — without national fame or national 
character; — without military strength or mili- 
tary virtues. 

If we had thrown ourselves into his arms, he 
might have respected us more for some deci- 
sion of character, — but he would not have hated 
us less. Our labours to steer a middle course 
— to moderate his violence by humble remon- 
strances and benevolent professions,— to entice 
from him the alms of an oppressed and preca- 
rious refuse of trade, — have only conduced to 
heighten his disdain and to embolden his inso- 
lence. We have squandered, — and do squan- 
der unavailingly, — our fund of submission. 

2f 



226 

Every act of humiliation is not merely super- 
fluous — but absolutely prejudicial. Th: re is no 
extravagance of di grace, which could render 
him placable. A war with England might soften 
his tone for some rime, but, as we have seen 
exemplified in the case of Austria and Prus- 
sia, — and shall soon see proved in that of Rus- 
sia, — it would not produce an oblivion of past 
disgusts, — nor contract his immeasurable am- 
bition, — nor extirpate his deeply-rooted hosti- 
lity to trade and to popular institutions. When 
an attempt was to be made, to plunge us into 
the same abyss of ruin, which we had been 
assisting him to prepare for others, we 
should, as in the instance of Prussia, be scorn- 
fully reproached and relentlessly punished for 
our original neutrality — for the symptoms of 
discontent or indignation, which we might 
have shown under the yoke of his own galling 
amity — for our very treachery to the cause we 
had abandoned in his favour, and which, as we 
should be told, our base fears alone prompted us 
to betray. 



227 

Such is the view which was taken of the pri- 
vate feeling of Bonaparte by persons whose 
opinions on the subject, bore the highest au- 
thority. My own observation led me to the 
same conclusions. We must not suppose that 
we are overlooked or forgotten in the midst of 
the storm of tumultuous passions and the vast 
interests in which he is engaged. We are fol- 
lowed with an acute and malignant eye through 
all our manifestations of feeling and the wind- 
ings of our cautious policy. — I have occasion to 
know that our gazettes are diligently searched 
at the instigation of the Emperor himself, and 
such parts a* relate to his character and views, 
extracted and submitted to his inspection. The 
invectives, with which many of them abound, 
are read with the bitterest resentment, and uni- 
formly with d enunciations of vengeance. They 
are interpreted by him as the expression of the 
national sentiment, and are ^o represented by the 
French emissaries who have been, and those who 
still are among us. 

Some of our politicians derive consolation 
from the belief that his principal minister, who 



228 

resided for some time in this country, will ex- 
ert his influence to soften the prejudices of his 
master, — particularly on the subject of trade. 
Should the minister be actually so disposed, 
there is but little probability of the success of 
his endeavours. General Armstrong, however, 
has said enough to show the futility of this 
hope, when he states, in his correspondence, 
that Talleyrand was well inclined to the revival 
of trade; but that the Emperor would listen to 
no such proposition. The fact, indeed, is, that 
Talleyrand is not more amicably disposed than 
his master*, and if it were in his power, would 

* Talleyrand, in his memoir on our commercial rela- 
tions with England, holds the following language on the 
subject of commerce. " The spirit of commerce which 
i€ renders man tolerant from indifference, renders him 
" also selfish from avidity. A people particularly whose 
" morals have been impaired by long commotions, should 
" be drawn by wise institutions towards agriculture : 
" for commerce keeps the passions of men in a state of 
€t effervescence, and agriculture calms them." There is 
another opinion expressed by this writer in his work, which 
he must find it somewhat difficult to reconcile with the 
doctrines which he must now officially maintain. " The 
" necessary tendency of a free constitution is to establish 
" order both within and without for the interest of the hu- 
<c man race. The necessary and unremitting tendency of 
" an arbitrary government is so to regulate every thing 



229 

exercise no influence favourable to this country. 
It is, moreover, a matter of notoriety in the best 
informed circles of Paris, that this minister en- 
joys no such ascendant over the mind of Bona- 
parte as is generally supposed both here and in 
England, The latter projects and dicta'es his 
own measures. He governs in the cabinet as he 
rules in the camp. The conception and outlines 
of his great undertakings originate with himself. 
The subordinate or instrumental parts are allot- 
ted to his assistants. There is no minister in 
his train who can ever persuade him, that the ad- 
vancement of commerce will contribute to the 
security of his despotism at home, or to the pro- 
longation of his empire over the continent. 
The question of trade must be of less than pa- 
rochial insignificance when compared with his 
views of aggrandizement, and is only seriously 
considered — inasmuch as it is opposed to the 
nature of the dominion which he wishes to es- 
tablish. Talleyrand, however subtle and pro- 
found, is of a timorous character, and if his 

** internal and external as to promote the personal interest 
" of those who govern. From this opposition of character 
* it is undeniable, that they cannot for any length of time 
" employ the same means, since they differ so widely in 
" their object" 



250 

mind could not embrace the whole compass, or 
recognise the remote efficacy of the plans of his 
principal — or were not stimulated by a propor- 
tionable desire of power, he would, neverthe- 
less, submit without a murmur, to the lofty 
genius, or to the inveterate prejudices which 
he feels himself unable to control. He knows 
there are few enmities in the mind of the Em- 
peror stronger than those which the latter che- 
rishes against the character and neutrality of 
the United States*. 

The modes by which we are to be assailed 
are various, and involve dangers of the first 
magnitude. Louisiana is the corner stone of 
the hostile policy of France. The proneness 
of a French population to French dominion, 
is counted upon as a sure guarantee of the suc- 
cess of the attempts which will be made to 
sever that territory from the United States. 

* In an imperial audience which took place at Paris in 
October 1607, somewhat similar to the celebrated one 
with Lord Whitworth, Bonaparte after declaring in an 
impassioned tone to the Austrian minister that he had 
sworn the destruction of England and would accomplish it, 
declared with the same emphasis to the Portuguese am- 
bassador, that thenceforward he would trample under foot 
all the principles of neutrality. 



231 

The information which I obtained at Paris 
fully convinced me of the bad faith of the 
French government in making this cession, 
and of its intention to resume possession by 
force when an opportunity shall offer. Since 
the period of the purchase, emissaries have 
gone at different times from this country to 
France, in order to represent to the French 
government the advantages it would derive 
from regaining and holding Louisiana as a co- 
lony. Memorials to the same effect have also 
been presented within the same interval, by 
persons now domiciliated in Paris, but who 
formerly resided in that territorv. These me- 
morials were graciously received and are re- 
served for a favourable conjuncture. I had this 
fact from two of the writers, who laid much 
stress on the dispositions of the inhabitants, and 
on the facility with which those dispositions 
might, by secret agency, be ripened into incur- 
able disaffection to their new rulers. They con- 
tended, and with some degree of plausibility, 
that the qualities and feelings peculiar to the 
members of a British commonwealth, could ne- 
ver be harmoniously blended with those which 
belong to persons of French and Spanish ori- 



£32 

gin, — habituated solely to the forms of French 
and Spanish dominion. 

The Floridas would have been long since 
yielded to the liberal offers, and to the earnest 
entreaties of our cabinet, if they were not neces- 
sary to the ulterior views of the French ruler 
on Louisiana. It certainly never was his in ten- 
tion to relinquish them, although he conde- 
scended to amuse the American cabinet with a 
long protracted negotiation on this point. The 
politicians of Paris predicted without hesita- 
tion, when this question was first agitated there, 
that the offers of this country never would be 
accepted. They reasoned upon the supposition 
that their Emperor felt too sensibly the import- 
ance of retaining a post in the neighbourhood 
of Louisiana, which might facilitate either the 
forcible occupation of that territory, or the to- 
tal estrangement of the inhabitants from their 
present allegiance, by the arts of intrigue and 
corruption. You will observe that I speak of 
Louisiana as the property of France, although 
it ostensibly belonged to Spain. I must remark, 
moreover, that an American minister treating 
for a possession of Spain with the French go- 



233 

vernment at Paris, exhibited rather a curious 
spectacle. There was an itinerant diplomacy 
in this business — first to Madrid and thence to 
the French metropolis at the command of Bona- 
parte. If the American cabinet were disposed 
as this moment to purchase the island of Cuba 
from the patriots, they would find it rather ex- 
traordinary, and perhaps somewhat insulting, 
if the British government were to exact that the 
negotiation should be conducted with the office 
of foreign affairs in London, and were to arro- 
gate to itself the right of rejecting the applica- 
tion. The negotiation at Paris for the Floridas 
was, throughout, a series of humiliation for the 
United States; and if the true history of it 
could be disclosed, would afford a clear insight 
into the views of France. I need not dwell 
upon the evils to which this country would be ex- 
posed from the establishment of a French power 
on our borders. 

While the British navy remains entire, we 
have not much to apprehend from the bayonet 
of the French rulers. But there is another spe- 
cies of hostility, preliminary to open violence, 

2 O 



234 

and scarcely less efficacious in the end — which 
they are now indefatigably waging against this 
country. They are, in fact, at war with us to the 
utmost extent of their means of annoyance. 
What the sword fails to reach may be almost 
as destructively assaikd by the subtle poison 
of corrupt doctrines, by domestic intrigue, by 
the diffusion of falsehood, and by the arts of 
intimidation. The world has not more to dread 
from their comprehensive scheme of military 
usurpation, than from the coextensive system of 
seduction and espionage which they prosecute 
with a view either to supersede the necessity, 
or to insure the success of conquest by arms. 
Upon the model of their domestic policy in this 
respect, they have established a secret inquisi- 
tion into the manageable vices and prejudices, 
into the vulnerable points as well as the strong 
holds of every country obnoxious to their am- 
bition. As they station a spy in every dwelling 
of the French empire- they plant traitors every 
where abroad, to corrupt by bribes, to delude 
by promises, to overawe by menaces, to inflame 
the passions, and to exasperate the leading an- 
tipathies of every people. As they maintain 



C 2S5 

by their domestic police an intestine war in 
France herself, by their foreign missions they 
sow every where abroad the seeds of division 
and discontent ; they foment the animosities of 
faction, and prepare the train for that explosion, 
which, by disuniting and dissipating the single 
as well as federative strength of a nation, lays 
her completely at their mercy. They shake 
the minds of men by terror ; and if the influ- 
ence of the imagination, either panic-struck, 
or seduced, should be aided by a credulous tem- 
per and a correspondent bias of prejudice, they 
make sure of their victims. 

In their own dominions, the " grim Molock" 
of the police renders every moment of life a 
succession of slavery *• The private actions, al- 

* The writer of the article ce Espionage" in the " Ency- 
<Jopedie Methodique/' gives the subsequent revolting pic- 
ture, derived from his own experience. — " Scarcely/' says 
he, " had the revolution broken out at Paris, when the es- 
" pionage of the police was thought to be at an end. I 
" found myelf stationed as a chief clerk in one of the of- 
<c flees of this department. I thought that a people who 
u had just shaken off the yoke of despotism, would not 



236 

most the recondite thoughts of every indivi- 
dual : the domestic errors and weaknesses and 
disquietudes, the confidential endearments and 
communications of every family, are exposed to 
the malignant curiosity of the vilest of merce- 
naries, and to the sinister interpretation of the 
most suspicious and unfeeling of all tribunals. 
By means equally profligate they exercise a su- 
pervision over other countries, and improve to 
their advantage whatever principles of corrup- 

" solicit the re-establishment of a political inquisition, and 
" that they would regard the system of espionage and of 
" arbitrary imprisonment as evils of the first magnitude. 
" But what was my surprise, when I saw men, who had 
" been most clamorous in their opposition to despotism, 
" come to solicit the employment of spies \ when I found 
iC a stupid public calling upon me to seize the person, or 
" to discover the residence of this and the other individual ; 
" when parents were seen coming to require the imprison- 
t€ ment of their children ; when I found it impossible to 
" make them understand that this illegal mode of proceed- 
if ing was contrary to all reason, and dangerous to liberty 
" and to morals ? Liberty appeared of little value, when 
" compared with a pecuniary interest or the gratification 
u of private revenge. Such is the actual state of things, 
" and both the public and the government appear to be 
" favourably disposed towards espionage of e\try descrip* 
u tion." (Encyclopedie, Jurisprud. torn, x.) 



237 

tion and disunion may be interwoven with their 
social or political constitutions. Their agents 
never loiter in the discharge of their functions 
or sleep on their watch. No means or instru- 
ments, however contemptible in appearance, 
are neglected in the prosecution of their plans. 
It is notorious that even the foreigners em- 
ployed in the theatres and opera houses of Eu- 
rope to minister to the public amusement, are 
marshalled in the service of the French govern- 
ment, for the purpose either of collecting in- 
formation themselves, or of facilitating the 
labours of more intelligent agents. The ga- 
zettes of every part of the continent are de- 
bauched by largesses, or driven by force to 
war against humanity by propagating the mis- 
representations of this horrible despotism*, 

* During the peace of 1 802, an attempt was made to 
enlist the principal Gazettes of England in the same cause. 
A person of the name of Fievee, who has since officiated as 
editor of the Journal de PEmpire, was deputed to that 
country on what he himself boastingly styled nn royage de 
corruption. He returned, however, without having suc- 
ceeded in his mission, and vented his own spleen as well 
as that of his government, in a libellous book on the British 
nation 



238 

This foreign police was projected under the 
old regime. During the reign of Jacobinism 
the number of its agents was multiplied and its 
activity greatly increased. Those means which 
under the Bourbons, were employed to guard 
France against the plots of her rivals, and by 
the Jacobins to subvert all governments, are 
now under the military despotism of Bonaparte, 
levelled, upon an enlarged plan and with more 
active industry, against the liberties and mo- 
rals of every people. That we ourselves are vi- 
gorously assailed, no reflecting man, as it ap- 
pears to me, can for a moment doubt. Inacces- 
sible as we are at this moment to any other 
mode of aggression, this engine of subjection 
is urged against us with redoubled force and 
adroitness. In this way we are perhaps more 
vulnerable than any other people. There is 
none whose public councils may be more easi- 
ly converted into mischievous cabals, or whose 
party feuds may be more quickly inflamed into 
the worst disorders ef faction. The simplicity 
and purity of character by which we are, I 
think, when viewed in the aggregate, so ad- 



v 



239 

vantageously distinguished above the nations 
of Europe, is almost as favourable to the de- 
signs of France as the corruption or venality 
of her neighbours. A backwardness to suspect 
treachery may entail all the consequences of a 
willingness to abet it. 

One who has had an opportunity of observ- 
ing the workings of French influence else- 
where, cannot possibly mistake the source 
from which the politics of some of our own ga- 
zettes are drawn. The most unwearied indus- 
try in disseminating falsehoods on the subject 
of Great Britain — a watchful alacrity to make 
even her most innocent or laudable acts the 
subject of clamour ; a steady laborious vindica- 
tion of all the measures of France, and a system 
of denunciation against those who pursue an 
opposite course, are the distinguishing features 
of the venal presses of Europe, and the symp- 
toms by which those of our own country may 
be known. The distance at which we are placed 
from the immediate range of the power of 
France, opens to her emissaries here a wide 



240 

field for invention and exaggeration. What is 
by them wickedly fabricated, is innocently be- 
lieved and propagated by the multitude of well 
meaning persons, whose antipathies against En- 
gland blind thern, both to the atrocious charac- 
ter and to the hostile designs of our real and 
most formidable enemy. Independently of other 
considerations connected with our general wel- 
fare, I sincerely deprecate the influence which 
the habit of approving the measures of France, 
may have over the moral and political charac- 
ter of this country. " Opinions," says Mr. 
Burke, cc as they sometimes follow, so they fre- 
u quently guide and direct the affections." 
We cannot long love the principles to which 
we profess to be devoted, while we accustom 
ourselves to rejoice at the triumph of such as 
are fundamentally oppofite. The habit of con- 
templating with satisfaction the victorious ca- 
reer of inordinate ambition and unexampled 
tyranny, must deprave the mind, and whatever 
may be our professions, cannot fail to weaken 
our attachment not only to the cause of vir- 
tue, but to the constitutions of freedom. 



241 

I have thus, my dear sir, gone through the 
topics which I had undertaken to discuss. 
Some of them merit a much more ample inves- 
tigation, and could have been supported by 
facts of a still more convincing nature. The 
publication of these facts, however, would have 
been an unwarrantable breach of confidence, — 
and I have wanted leisure to arrange all the 
arguments which might have been adduced to 
support my conclusions. Enough, I think, 
has been said to produce the conviction that 
the French Emperor meditates the ruin of this 
country, and is not to be propitiated by any 
concessions. It is upon this conviction that I 
rely as an antidote to whatever rash inferences 
might be draw r n from the persuasion that he 
must finally triumph over the continent. There 
are, moreover, other considerations tending to 
counteract such inferences, upon which I shall 
touch slightly before I conclude — and which 
it is my intention to investigate more fully 
hereafter. The first arises from the position, 
that the French rulers are characteristically 
and systematically enemies to commerce in 

2 H 



242 

any form. They are now preparing the op- 
portunity which they will hereafter improve — 
to extinguish the spirit of trade wherever their 
dominion can be established. When they are 
finally victorious over the continent, we shall 
be the more rigidly excluded and virulently 
persecuted, in order to gratify their implaca- 
ble hatred against a commercial and republi- 
can people. If we had seen the French Em- 
peror conciliated in any one instance by the 
final submission of a nation which had once 
resisted his will, we might, with some degree of 
reason, look for a refuge in his mercy, although 
no people, with the exception of the British, 
are so much the objects of his aversion, and 
none whatever has so strongly excited his con- 
tempt. But there is nothing rational or even 
plausible in this mere reversionary hbpe, when 
we contemplate the examples which stare us 
in the face, — of nations mercilessly beaten to 
the ground, and rapaciously plundered, — which 
had acquired— by every sacrifice of honour and 
strength, — the fairest titles to his generosity and 
his compassion. 



243 

The maritime means of England lead also 
to some serious reflections connected with the 
interests of his country. Whatever may be the 
fate of the continent, the British cannot fall. 
The character of the population of England, — 
the abundance of her pecuniary resources — 
and eminently her navy, the great buttress of 
her strength — preclude almost the possibility 
of her overthrow. The danger of invasion, if 
not altogether illusory, is extremely doubtful 
and remote. If the continent is to be over- 
come, it is better that the delusion of hope 
should be at once dispelled from the minds of 
the British.* They will then reserve for a more 

* t( With regard/- says Mr. Burke, in his Regicide 
Peace, " to a general state of things, growing out of events 
" and causes already known in the gross, there is no piety 
t( in the fraud that covers its true nature, because nothing 
il but erroneous resolutions can be the result of false repre- 
** sentations. Those measures which in common distress 
" might be available, — in greater, are no better than play- 
" ing with the evil. That the effort may bear a proportion 
tf to the exigence, it is fit it should be known ; known in 
" its quality, in its extent, and in all the circumstances 
" which attend it/' &c. 



244 

successful cause at home the blood and trea* 
sure which they fruitlessly expend in operations 
abroad. Their attention will be wholly directed 
to their own defence, for which their means 
are abundantly sufficient — and to the develop- 
ment of those means. They may be cast down 
for the moment; but it should be remembered, 
that the dejection of ia great nation never leads 
to nerveless despair. The prospect of imminent 
danger tends rather to unite the virtue and to 
cement the strength than to embitter the factions 
of a free and magnanimous people. 

Should we unite with France, we can expect 
no trade in any event. But on the supposition 
that Bonaparte should be disposed to open his 
ports to us hereafter, of what advantage would 
be this indulgence, if the English are our ene- 
mies, and remain the masters of the seas? We 
should then be deprived not only of the lucra- 
tive, and almost necessary trade which, before 
the present misunderstanding, we enjoyed with 
^England and her possessions, but of the im- 
mense market which may be opened to us in 
South America by a wise and liberal policy on 



245 

both sides. As I believe the dispositions of the 
present ministry of Great Britain to be by no 
means friendly to this country, I would not 
counsel a negotiation with them at this mo- 
ment, if I did not conceive that we shall be soon 
driven to the alternative of a war with one or 
the other belligerent. Eut as France will have 
no neutrality, and as a union with England is 
our only safeguard against the machinations of 
France, that union should be attempted now, — 
and may be effected almost in spite of the Bri- 
tish ministry. Lord Grenville declared in the 
house of lords on the fifteenth of last February, 
that the ruin of England would be entailed by 
an unjust war with the United States, as he 
considered the moral virtue of his country to be 
of no less importance than its physical force. 
The nation may not reason from the same en- 
larged view of things, but they will adopt nearly 
the same conclusion, — and no ministry would 
dare to resist the public sentiment on this head, 
should we come forward, honestly and manfully, 
to demand an accommodation. My own ob- 
servation, however, enables me to state, that 
the people of England will not acquiesce in the 



246 

total relinquishment of the right of impress- 
ment, or feel any concern in the discussion of 
mere speculative points — whether they belong 
to colonial trade or to diplomatic etiquette. In 
the present condition of the world, such ques- 
tions dwindle into absolute insignificance, when 
contrasted with the momentous interests which 
should occupy the attention of both countries. 
Our mutual and sole object at this moment 
should be the preservation of the institutions 
favourable to commerce &nd liberty, which 
have hitherto escaped the common enemy. 
Who, in the midst of a storm at sea, would 
abandon the helm, and commit the vessel to 
chance, because certain points could not be 
adjusted about the enjoyment of a birth in the 
cabin? It is time to consult convenience when 
the dangers are past which threaten existence. 
There is no man, if he were invested with suit- 
able powers, better fitted to establish the friend- 
ship of the two countries upon a solid and last- 
ing basis, than the gentleman who is now our 
representative in London. His talents and his 
accomplishments eminently qualify him for the 
station which he occupies, — and are seconded 



247 

by the most enlightened and indefatigable zeal 
for the true interests of his country* I bear this 
spontaneous testimony from a more intimate 
knowledge of his character, and of the circum- 
stances under which he has been placed, than 
can be possessed by those who have passed 
erroneous judgments on some parts of his offi- 
cial conduct. No one of his predecessors in 
the same office has surpassed him in acquire- 
ments, in genius or in manners, or maintained 
a more elevated rank among the distinguished 
personages by whom he is surrounded. 

Almost any state would be preferable to that 
in which we now are. To stand thus trembling 
and hesitating on the slippery verge of a war j 
to languish on in impotence and contempt ; to 
be incessantly tossed about at the mercy of every 
event, is of all conditions that which most 
directly tends to palsy the spirit, and to destroy 
the confidence of a nation. Of all the evils 
which could befal a people situated as we are, 
the worst would be a government without any 
fixed principles or plan. No description of ru- 
lers would be as pernicious as that tribe of vul- 



248 

gar politicians, whose measures are governed 
or dictated by accident; whose schemes are 
perpetually fluctuating; who live, according to 
an expression of Bolingbroke, from day to day, 
and from hour to hour, agitated by every blast 
of wind, and borne away by every current. The 
statesmen to whom our destinies are now in- 
trusted, should be guided by considerations of 
a paramount nature to those which bear upon 
the mere temporary interests of trade. There 
are certain maxims of high and genuine state 
policy, as there are of superior economy, by 
which they may more effectually serve this 
country, than by giving us the commerce of 
the world, if such means must be employed to 
obtain it, as " a diplomacy of humiliation," 
and a connivance at the usurpations of the 
most savage and rapacious, the most profligate 
and sanguinary of all the despotisms which 
have ever dishonoured and afflicted the human 
race. We are an infant nation, and should 
set an example of virtue to our posterity. It 
will be a more valuable inheritance than any 
accumulation of wealth, which, without such 
an example, they would want energy to de- 



249 

fend. It behoves the government of this coun- 
try to form a national character for us, — to 
cultivate and to mature in the people, gene- 
rous and magnanimous feelings, — passions of 
a dignified and durable nature, excited and 
maintained under the influence of conscience 
and honour. 

The consciousness of having made sacrifice* 
to promote the cause of justice and humanity 
abroad, would inspire us with more enthusiasm 
to preserve, and give us more strength to 
guard our unrivalled institutions, than any in- 
crease of physical means derived from an ig- 
nominious and humiliating neutrality, Na- 
tions have been successfully carried through 
arduous struggles by the recollection of the 
achievements of their ancestors. The energy 
caught from the example of the latter, has 
vanquished difficulties, which, without this 
aid, would have proved insurmountable. The 
British owe to the glorious sacrifices of their 
progenitors in favour of their constitution and 
of the liberties of Europe, much of that force 
of character, of that " vehement and sustained 

2 I 



250 

spirit of fortitude/' which will contribute, no 
less than their material resources, to render 
them invincible in the present struggle. There 
is scarcely more efficiency in fleets and armies 
than in that exaltation of sentiment which pre- 
fers the chance of ruin to the certainty of dis- 
grace. 

A union with France, if not even ruinous in 
its immediate consequences, would be an inde- 
lible stain on our annals. Our descendants 
would turn with disgust from the page which 
might record so monstrous and unnatural an 
alliance, I know not, indeed, how an American 
will feel one century hence, when, in investi- 
gating^ the history of the late invasion of Spain, 
he shall inquire, what, on that occasion, was 
the conduct of his ancestors, the only republi- 
can people then on earth, and who claim al- 
most an exclusive privilege to hate and to de- 
nounce, every act of ruffian violence, and every 
form of arbitrary power. It certainly will not 
kindle a glow of emulation in his mind, when 
he shall be told, that of this unparalleled crime, 
an oblique notice was once taken by our ad- 



251 

ministration : that the people of this country 
seemed to rejoice at the triumph of the inva- 
der, and frowned on the efforts of his victims. 

Mr. Jefferson had it in his power when all the 
horrors of this usurpation were first unfolded, 
to consolidate the public virtue, and perhaps, 
to fix for ever the destinies of this country. 
He could, indeed, have found justifiable causes 
of war in the insults and injuries which we 
ourselves had received from France, but he 
should have availed himself of this event to 
hallow the contest in which sooner or later we 
must be engaged, and to call up a force of 
generous resolution, which, while it armed us 
with power, would have purified and invigor- 
ated our attachment to republican institutions. 
By entering in the name of a free people, his 
solemn and indignant protest against this fatal 
precedent of outrage, he would at once have 
buoyed up the people here, to a similar eleva- 
tion of sentiment, and by throwing himself 
entirely on their magnanimity, could have 
wanted no better tenure for his place. Our 
present rulers, if they act upon a large and 



252 

prospective view of our true interests, may re- 
trieve the character of this country. They 
will, I am quite sure, be seconded by an entire 
correspondence of feeling not only on our part, 
but in the people of England, whatever may 
be the narrow policy or the illiberal prejudices 
of the British ministry. It is from our rulers, 
however, that we expect, and perhaps only 
from them that we can receive the proper im- 
pulse. — " Whenever," says Gentz, "a real 
" interest commands, every national antipa- 
" thy, though existing from the earliest times, 
" if it only rests upon prejudice, must yield to 
" more urgent motives; and so it doubtless 
cc will, when the guidance of nations is in- 
" trusted to the wise and great ; to men who 
iC are above all narrow views, and superior to 
"all little passions. The deliberate and de- 
" cided measures of a truly enlightened go- 
*? vernment, intent upon important objects, 
" break through the fetters of popular opi- 
f? nion ; are supported by the wise, and carry 
" the weak irresistibly along;" 

THE END. 



J. M'Creery, Printer, 
Black-Horse-Court, LondoB, 



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